


All Inclusive

by xXdreameaterXx



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alternate Universe - Cruise Ship, Awkward meeting, Cruise Ships, Drunkenness, F/M, Love/Hate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-14
Updated: 2016-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-14 05:36:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 34,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7155746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXdreameaterXx/pseuds/xXdreameaterXx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When his sister Missy convinces him to go on a cruise the Doctor has no idea that she is sending him on a party & singles cruise, determined to find him a match. It's even more of a surprise to him when he wakes up the morning after a party and realizes he is married to the annoying woman who vomited on his shoes on the first evening. But all will be well and the marriage can be annulled back on land – as long as he and Clara don't consummate it. Whouffaldi AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Are you sure it's too late to cancel the trip?” John Smith asked his sister as they were approaching the harbour, the salty sea air of Dover already filling his lungs.  
The ship itself was massive and normally he wouldn't have minded a nice cruise through the Mediterranean Sea even though his sister had so far kept the details from him. But he had his practice and he had work to do. She really had picked a bad timing.  
“Absolutely sure,” Missy replied with a smirk.  
Sometimes John hated her. Missy had booked the cruise for them both without telling him, claiming it was her present for his 55th birthday without paying any attention to the amount of work that was gathering on his desk. He would have to pull all-nighters for weeks on end as soon as he was back.  
“Don't you worry about your practice. The replacement seemed more than capable,” Missy scolded him sternly as if reading his thoughts, “You've been working without a break for five years. If you don't take some time off soon, some poor patient will find your dead body on your office floor after your heart attack!”  
John took a deep breath and sighed in defeat. Yes, she was right, of course. He needed a holiday desperately and the idea of lying on deck with a good book in his hands and the sun on his skin appealed to him more than he cared to admit. And surely they would stop by some interesting spots on the way. Spain. Italy. It would be nice. If only he could be certain his replacement was as good as she had claimed to be. He needed to call Doctor Jones as long as he still had reception to make sure.  
“How come I still don't have the schedule for this cruise?” John wanted to know, “I mean, we'll hardly stay on board all the time. I'm sure it includes trips ashore.”  
“Oh, it does and they sound lovely,” Missy confirmed and again something about her smile bothered him. It was as if she was planning something. Or hiding something. “You'll find the details in your cabin which, by the way, is first class, so don't think I'm cheap.”  
“Thanks, by the way,” he said grudgingly when they approached the ship because he hated to admit that Missy was right, “The cruise was a very nice idea and I'm sure it's going to be great.”  
“Oh, don't thank me yet,” Missy replied when they came to a halt in front of the check-in.  
John had no time to think about her words as he handed his ticket to the man in uniform that bore the cruise liner's symbol and received a wristband in return. He was told to wear it at all times as it was both the key to his cabin as well as his identification. Meals and drinks and everything else he bought on this ship would be booked over this wristband.  
Once he had listened to the man's thorough explanations he turned back towards Missy only to see her still standing in the same spot.  
“Here, let me carry your suitcase,” John offered and even though his sister protested he reached for the handle. To his surprise it was as light as a feather. He looked up at Missy in confusion.  
“Your suitcase is empty,” he realized.  
His sister smiled at him apologetically. “Yeah, well, I lied,” she admitted.  
“What do you mean _you lied_?”  
Missy simply shrugged. “I'm not coming. I booked this cruise for _you_ ,” she explained, taking her very much empty suitcase back from him, “Just wanted to make sure you really went. That's all.”  
“Missy-”  
“Have fun!” his sister gave him her warmest smile and waved while John was growing increasingly aware that other people were beginning to form a queue behind them, ready to board the cruise ship. He was faced with two choices: grab his suitcase and leave out of spite because of the nasty trick Missy had pulled on him or shrug it off and go on a well deserved holiday. Right now the promise of warmth and sunshine in the Mediterranean seemed to be the much better option so John growled at his sister in goodbye and turned around without saying another word. 

With no further information than his cabin number and the instructions the staff had given him about where to find it John made his way across the ship, positive that he had made the right decision. The ship itself was modern and elegant and from the inside it looked more like a hotel than anything else. He passed a couple of signs leading to the outdoor swimming area, the indoor pool, several bars and restaurants, a book shop, a cinema and John was sure he would have spotted more but he was eager to get rid of his luggage before continuing his explorations.  
Missy definitely hadn't lied about his first class cabin, though why on earth his sister would have chosen to send him off alone was beyond John. The place was spacious, with a large bed taking the centre of the room and a window and balcony behind it. There was a wardrobe for his clothes, a minibar, a small coffee table with chairs, a desk and a telly. The bathroom was quite small but John noticed that the massaging shower head looked more than promising. Yes, he had made the right decision. 16 days of relaxing and sightseeing in the sun. What could possibly be bad about that?

Now that he came to think about it, he thought it was high time to have a look at the brochures to learn about the schedule of this trip. John found them lying on the desk and as soon as he had taken a closer look a frown appeared on his face.

**See The World And Meet Your Match**  
_Welcome aboard the TARDIS! We are going to take you on a wild journey through the Mediterranean Sea where you can relax, unwind, have fun and maybe even meet the love of your life. During the days of our 16-day-journey we are going to show you the wonderful sights the south of Europe has to offer, but what or who you will spend the nights with is entirely up to you. We offer a variety of activities that are included in your activity overview. The crew wishes you an adventurous and relaxing holiday!_

“Missy,” John hissed as he reached into his trouser pocket for his phone. She had gone ahead and booked him a _singles' cruise_ , that damned woman.  
“Missy, I am absolutely-”  
“Hello, this is the voicemail of Missy Smith. I am currently not available, but I will call you back if you leave me a message. If this is you, John, just go with it, okay? Who knows – you might even meet someone. I'll pick you up in 16 days. _Have fun!_ ”  
John ended the call and slid the phone back inside his pocket. There was no use raving to a machine about it and, knowing Missy, she would probably just ignore the message anyway. So that was the reason she hadn't accompanied him and a part of him realized that maybe he should have known. Missy had been trying to find him a girlfriend for years but so far he had always refused a set up. How could he have known she would resort to this?  
John wasn't even on the lookout for a relationship. Yes, it had been long since River and he had given it a try on a few occasions but generally he wasn't unhappy as a bachelor, mainly because his job took up most of his time, and he certainly wouldn't find anyone on a singles' cruise.  
Well, the cruise had been paid for already, he had boarded the ship. Should John really just go with it and try to make the best out of the situation? A glance at the schedule told him that they would be sailing for almost two whole days and make their first stop in Lisbon tomorrow evening and a tour would be given the following day. That didn't sound too bad in his opinion. He really wanted to see Lisbon and all the other stops they had planned for Spain and Italy. It would be lovely. And no one would force him to attend the offered speed dating opportunities or the parties, even though the description of the 30s themed evening had a nice ring to it. Yes, John Smith decided to stay. After all, how bad could it really be?

 

The ship set sail a short while later and John considered having another look around. There were so many activities on offer, so many things he hadn't done in a while because his work had never allowed it. Read a book on deck, watch a nice movie at the cinema, go for a swim in the pool, there was even a gym that he could use but when he came to think about it, his bones were beginning to feel a little heavy. He had gone to sleep late last night, or early this morning, after trying to prepare his practice for his replacement Doctor Jones, labelling everything and writing additional notes about some of the patients he knew would come in during his absence and he was tired. Really, really tired.  
While John sank down on the soft bed he thought about giving Martha Jones a quick call but then his exhaustion and lack of sleep got the better of him before he even had a chance.

* * *

John woke up when it was already dark and next to a throbbing headache he also noticed a low, growling noise in his stomach. With a groan he stretched and glanced at his watch, realizing that it was already well past dinner time. Well, he was on a party cruise ship. Some restaurant or bar would surely still offer a snack and so John scrambled to his feet and, ignoring his wrinkled suit and tousled hair, stepped outside his cabin.  
The further he walked away from the sleeping quarters the louder the music of the ongoing parties became and on his way John met quite a lot of people who were clearly dressed to have fun. He ignored most of them, not even giving them a second glance because his main goal at the moment was to get something to eat until two women around the age of 30 blocked the corridor for him. Both of them were clearly drunk already, even though the redhead still managed to hold up the smaller one as they staggered around the hall. Thank God those days were behind John, but he still remembered the time when he and his friend had thought there was no better fun than getting drunk before midnight.  
“Come on, let's get you to bed,” the redhead giggled, trying hard to keep the tiny brunette walking, “I think that was enough for the first day.”  
“I hate this ship,” the small woman complained with a heavy slur, “The floor's movin'.”  
“That would be the tequila,” the other laughed.  
John stepped aside to allow them to pass but then the tiny brunette looked up at him and stopped. Oh no, he didn't have the nerve to deal with a drunk person right now.  
Then she started giggling. “Your hair's all funny,” she said, pointing right at him, and John tried very hard not to feel insecure about a drunk woman's comment. But maybe he should have brushed it before leaving his cabin.  
“Come on, Clara,” the redhead said and tried to drag her friend along but the woman called Clara didn't budge. Instead she swayed on the spot and her face was starting to grow paler.  
“No,” she swallowed, “I don't feel so good.”  
John didn't have time to step out of the way when the small woman bent over and emptied the contents of her stomach on the ship's carpet floor, ruining his shoes in the process. That was exactly why he hated drunk people.  
“Sorry,” the other woman mumbled quickly and helped steady her friend on her feet, “She's had a bit too much. I'm sure there's a cleaners' here on board. Tell them it's on Clara Oswald.”  
“What?!” the brunette protested groggily while her friend dragged her away in the direction of the cabins.  
John watched them until they had dragged themselves around the next corner before his gaze fell onto his ruined shoes. When he had thought that this cruise couldn't possibly be as bad as originally assumed, he had been wrong. It was worse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so, so much for the first comments :) I'm glad you liked it so far since I was soooooo excited to post this! Hope I continue to entertain you!

Danny was only a few steps ahead of her and yet he didn't seem to take any notice of Clara at all. She called out for him and was about to grab his sleeve but he just vanished around the corner of the school corridors. When she followed he was already on the other end. There was no way of catching up. Clara yelled his name and then woke with a start.  
The first thing she noticed was a stale taste in her mouth, followed by the worst headache she had ever had and the bed beneath her was moving mercilessly. It all started to come back to her, the cruise, the tequila and she hated that the memory of Danny could even follow her here when they were in the middle of the ocean.  
“Drink,” Amy ordered her grumpily and held a glass with a murky, sparkling liquid into her face, “Aspirin.”  
Clara sat up slowly, her stomach and head revolting at the movement, and took the glass from her friend's hand, emptying it in one go.  
“I hope you're feeling just as bad as I am,” Amy said and when Clara looked at her she did indeed look horrible, “And I hope you don't mind that I gave away your name to the guy whose shoes you ruined last night.”  
Suddenly Clara felt sick again. The man with the wild hair. She had puked right on his shoes. It was all so blurry and so far Clara had assumed that had just been another crazy dream.  
“Is there a chance I just dreamed that?” she asked quietly.  
“Nope,” Amy replied and fell back onto the bed they shared, “And now let me cure my hangover some more.”  
Even though Clara's body basically screamed at her to go back to sleep until the worst of her hangover had passed, her mind would never find peace right now after the memory of last night had started to come back. Oh God, she had commented on his funny hair and stared at him. Before vomiting right on his shoes. What would she do if she ever saw him again? Run away and hide, most likely, or try to apologize for what had happened last night. But with any luck she would never see him again. It was a large ship with many people on board. It was unlikely she would ever run into him again.

Clara forced herself out of bed and staggered in the direction of the bathroom where she immediately turned on the hot shower. As the water ran down her body her mind kept wandering back to the dream about Danny. Sweet, loving, poor Danny. It had been nine months since he had passed and she had grieved for him for a long, long time. In fact, she was sure she was still grieving in a way that was different from the immediate sense of loss. Clara would have loved to talk to Amy about it, hear her opinion, but her friend had her own problems now. She had left her husband even though, or especially because she loved him. Rory wanted children and after another miscarriage the doctors had told Amy she wouldn't be able to have any, so she had packed her bags and left, hoping Rory would find what he wanted elsewhere. Clara had considered it a stupid move but Amy would hear nothing about that.  
The singles' cruise had been Amy's suggestion, too, and Clara had been eager to agree. Amy needed a distraction and so did Clara but now that she was here she realized that she didn't quite feel ready for a one night stand or a fling. Every time she had looked at a man last night she had felt so guilty, as if she was still cheating on Danny in a way. Not because she had actually considered doing anything with one of them, but only because the possibility had been there and it scared her. She wasn't ready, she wasn't sure if she would ever be ready but the man that came after Danny, long, _long_ after Danny, would have to be someone really special. So instead of going out to find a distraction she had tried to drown out the memories that haunted her even here. While the water continued to flow down the drain Clara stood in the shower and cried quietly, hoping that this feeling would pass one day.

* * *

John dropped the stained shoes in bathroom with disgust and headed back into the main cabin to get dressed. He hadn't had the energy to change last night and so he had settled for peanuts and chocolate from the minibar for dinner and needless to say he was damn hungry now. Hoping that the cleaning staff would get the drift and take care of his shoes he headed out of his cabin and in the direction of the breakfast bar.  
Today seemed to be his lucky day. All the people who had partied last night were probably still asleep, which left him with a wide selection of tables and food. It all looked so delicious, from the croissants to the fresh ham and eggs and fruits, he had no idea where to start. Watching a woman in front of him hold up her wristband to activate the coffee maker he tried the same thing after her but with no result. It just made an aggressive beeping sound but no coffee came out. John muttered a curse under his breath and tried it again and again, yet with no different outcome than the beeping. He was hungry, he was annoyed, he just wanted a darn cup of coffee!  
Suddenly a small hand reached into his field of vision, holding her wristband to the coffee maker and – to his surprise – his large mug started to fill with steaming, black coffee.  
“You need to hold it against the sensor for a while longer,” a female voice said and John turned around to see the woman from last night – Clara – standing next to him. She looked horrible even though she had obviously cleaned herself up. Pale skin, red eyes, cracked lips. John hoped her hangover was bad enough to punish her for what had happened last night.  
He was ready to shout at her, complain about the mess she had made of his shoes, tell her to leave him alone but Clara was faster. Why did it have to be her out of all the people on this ship to help her with this stupid machine?  
“Coffee's on me,” she said sheepishly, avoiding his gaze, “Sorry for last night.”  
“You better be,” he snapped angrily, “If you can't hold your drink, then maybe you should stick to juice next time.”  
“I said I was sorry, okay?” Clara half yelled back at him, “I'll pay for the cleaning, too. What more do you want?”  
“I want to be left in peace so I can have breakfast,” John growled and turned away when just out of the corner of his eyes he saw her activate the coffee maker again. That made him turn around once more. “And if I were you I'd have a glass of water with that. Coffee's just going to dehydrate you more.”  
Clara rolled her eyes. “What are you? A doctor?”  
“As a matter of fact, I am. But hey, it's your hangover,” John shrugged and decided to concentrate on the breakfast menu instead. Even though his appetite had faded away he still felt hungry and reached for the first croissant he could get his hands on.  
“So, _Doctor_ ,” Clara's sarcastic voice was right behind him again and he groaned in annoyance, “What food would you recommend for a hangover? Since you're the expert.”  
“Don't call me that,” he growled.  
“Why not, _Doctor_?”  
“Go away.”  
Finally Clara seemed to have given up. She reached past him for a croissant but when he glanced at her again she had already moved on to the section offering different spreads and he breathed a sigh of relief. After filling his plate with anything that looked halfway delicious and he started making his way to a remote table at the window, his spirits began to lift a little at the prospect of food. He realized that maybe he could have been a little nicer to her, after all, Clara had apologized sincerely but that was what people got when they annoyed him while he was hungry. With a bit of luck he would never have to cross paths with her again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all sooooooooooooooo much for the comments *tackle hug*

After the second encounter with Clara John decided to ban her from his thoughts and instead focus on making the best out of this holiday. He went for a little run on the treadmill in the gym, relaxed in the sauna and afterwards had a nice, long swim in the outdoor swimming pool. When he had grabbed a light lunch he decided to write Missy a postcard from Lisbon the next day and thank her for the wonderful trip (while also dropping a not to subtle hint he would surely not come home with a girlfriend) and made his way to the book shop to pick up something nice to read. Unfortunately he spotted an all too familiar face right in front of the shelf holding classic literature and she had her nose buried in a copy of _Les Misérables_. John had almost snorted at the sight of it, she would bore herself into an early grave with that one. Life was definitely too short for _Les Misérables_. Before she had a chance to see him John ducked behind another shelf and quickly headed out of the book shop after buying the first book of that TV show everyone seemed to talk about these days.  
It was warm outside in the sun and so John sank down on the sunbed, ordered a fruity drink and opened his book only to realize that he was beginning to feel tired again. Apart from the party noise he had witnessed last night the atmosphere was just too relaxing and he hadn't taken a long day off in years. He realized he was enjoying this holiday when he closed his eyes and no annoying party people and no Clara could ruin that for him. 

The TARDIS anchored in the port of Lisbon in the early evening and John watched the city lights come closer in the twilight. Tomorrow morning he would join a sightseeing tour through the city and he was already looking forward to it and he certainly had his camera ready. After a long shower he dressed in a casual suit and picked one of the restaurants to have dinner at. It wasn't until he was already halfway through finishing the main course that he noticed his surroundings. Even though it was a singles' cruise he was the only one around actually eating single. Yes, a couple of people were obviously there with friends and sitting in small groups but he could also spot several people obviously on a first date. There was a man around his own age sitting a few tables away with a woman clearly younger than himself and she laughed gaily at his jokes and let him touch her hand. It wasn't as if John couldn't have a woman. He wasn't bad looking for his age, he had always considered himself to have a good sense of humour and he had money – all the things women usually liked. It was just that he didn't think he actually had time for a girlfriend. His last attempt at a relationship had dumped him after a month for working too much and bailing out on too many dates. He hadn't been too sad about it. But maybe he wasn't really using this cruise up to its full potential? John did feel lonely sometimes, especially after coming home from a long day at work when there was no one there to talk to, to share his meal and a glass of wine with. That was why he often invited himself to Missy's house and maybe she had picked up on that and that was how he had ended up here. But he was a doctor and he was helping people, that was probably more than anyone around him could say about themselves.  
John quickly finished his meal and before going to bed he decided to stop by the cinema. They played one of those silly horror movies that had the women screeching in fear and cling to their dates but he had already brushed that thought aside. That night John went to sleep feeling good about himself and dreaming about absolutely nothing at all.

* * *

Clara had been excited about the trip ashore and seeing all the wonderful sights Lisbon had to offer but her excitement soon waned when they were placed in smaller groups and _that guy_ was assigned to their tour party. Even though today he wasn't wearing a suit he still had the same arrogant air around him in those ridiculous plaid trousers as he fidgeted with his expensive looking camera. He seemed to make an extra effort not to notice her, like he had done the day before in the book shop. As if she hadn't seen him hide from her behind the shelves. Clara rolled her eyes in annoyance. 

“What's the matter?” Amy suddenly asked, picking up on her mood instantly.  
Clara kept staring at her shoes. She had still felt embarrassed about what had happened the first night and walking up to him to apologize hadn't been easy. However at his rude response that embarrassment had soon turned into anger. He could have at least accepted her apology and her offer to pay for the cleaning, not rebuff her like that. She couldn't change what had already happened.  
“That Doctor guy is in our group,” Clara mumbled grumpily. It was as if the universe was determined to remind her of the incident at every turn.  
“Oh, the one with the shoes,” Amy realized. A short giggle escaped her friend and Clara shot around, glaring at her.  
“It's not funny!”  
“Not for you,” she confirmed, nodding towards the Doctor, “And certainly not for him.”  
“He hates me!” Clara complained, groaning, “And my apology was sincere. He didn't have to be rude.”  
Amy drew a map from out of her pocket, a sign for Clara that she had stopped really paying attention to her. “What do you care? If he's a jerk, let him be a jerk. Just forget about it.”  
Clara knew it her heart that Amy was right and yet she didn't feel like forgetting about it at all. The conversation they had had before breakfast kept entering her mind. “But he was just so arrogant, Amy, you should have heard him,” Clara straightened her shoulders and lowered her voice to mockingly imitate his, including a bad Scottish accent, “ _If you can't hold your drink, you should stick to juice next time._ ”  
“Clara,” Amy inhaled sharply, “Just let it go, okay? We're here to have fun, remember?”  
Eventually Clara sighed and she was about to agree with her friend when suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eyes that made her turn around.  
“Hey,” she shouted towards the Doctor who was still snapping pictures of his surroundings, “I better not be in that photo or else-”  
“Or else what?” the Doctor bellowed back, glaring at her in his annoyance, “Don't worry. I don't intend to keep any memory of you after this cruise.”  
Clara opened her mouth to say something when her friend reached for her arm, holding her back. “Let it go,” Amy urged her and she decided to follow her advice. And certainly not because she couldn't think of a decent comeback. 

Her spirits started to lift when the tour guide appeared and the group followed him around the city. The weather was lovely and for the first time Clara truly realized that they were on vacation here and that she should really try to take it in because who knew when she might get to see Lisbon again. The Doctor remained a lingering presence, asking the tour guide questions and taking more pictures than he could possibly need but Clara had decided to block him out. He would not ruin this trip for her and Amy was right. If he had decided to be a jerk about the incident, that was certainly not her problem.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments :) Glad you're enjoying it and now let's see what these two get up to now:

“This is the best lasagne I've ever had,” Amy said with her mouth still full and Clara only nodded in agreement as she stuffed another piece into her mouth. After the official tour had stopped for a lunch break the group had started to dissolve and since both Clara and Amy had felt quite hungry by that time they had decided to find the nearest restaurant.  
“I'd like to go back to that little souvenir shop we passed earlier and get something for my grandma,” Clara remarked after a moment, “She's never been to Lisbon, so she told me to bring back a little something.”  
A small frown appeared on her friend's face. “Actually, I wanted to see that little church from the inside. The one where we're supposed to meet with the group.”  
Clara shrugged. “Well, I could go back to the shop on my own and then meet you there in an hour.”  
“Alright,” Amy agreed, “Do you want the map or-”  
“No, that's fine,” Clara smiled at her, “I have my phone. I'll find the way back.”

They finished their lunch and paid before Clara set out to walk back towards the souvenir shop she had spotted earlier, loving the summer wind blowing through her hair and the scent of a foreign city in her nose. Travelling had been on her agenda for so long, ever since she had graduated from school but something had always come between her and her plans. The death of Mary Maitland, her new job at Coal Hill and most recently Danny. They had been to Brighton together for a week during their last holidays together but that could hardly be considered travelling. All those plans they had made together, Norway, New Zealand or the European capitals tour – none of that would ever happen. If Danny was here with her now. . .  
Clara quickly banned the thought from her mind and luckily she was provided with the perfect distraction when she found herself standing right in front of the souvenir shop. She reached for the door handle and pushed just a second before they collided.  
The Doctor dropped his postcards on the floor and Clara immediately stepped back, the annoyance rising up inside of her again. Why did he have to be everywhere? Why was he always in the same place she wanted to be?  
“Can't you watch it?!” she yelled at him before she could stop herself.  
After he had come back up from picking the postcards off the ground the Doctor glared at her right before he burst into laughter. “I think _you_ ran into _me_ , not the other way around.”  
She was about to bark at him, say something nasty back but Amy's words were still ringing through her mind. _Let it go._ “How about we just try to avoid each other?” Clara suggested, “You don't talk to me, I don't talk to you.”  
The Doctor snorted. “I think you'll find that I haven't made any kind of approach towards you. Vomiting on my shoes – that was you. Annoying me at breakfast – also you. Running into me-”  
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Clara rolled her eyes, “Can I go into the shop now or are you planning to block the door the whole day?”  
The Doctor stepped aside to let her pass and the door fell shut behind him with a bang that made her flinch, making Clara shake her head once more. That man would never find a woman, not even on a cruise filled with singles, not while he was acting like an arrogant idiot.  
Seeing all those souvenirs on display however Clara decided to concentrate on the more important task of finding something nice for her grandmother. She selected the prettiest postcards to send to her granny, her father and Danny's adoptive parents with whom she hadn't spoken in a few weeks. They'd be happy to hear a few nice words from her. Clara filled them out right in the shop before buying a giant mug that had the skyline of Lisbon printed on it for her grandmother and listened closely to the directions the shop owner gave her to the nearest pillar box. 

Just as she headed out of the shop there was a sudden snapping sound and Clara almost stumbled over her own feet, only catching her balance at the last moment.  
“Crap,” she muttered when she looked at her own two feet. The strap of her sandal had ripped out of the shoe, leaving her with nothing but a useless sole barely attached to the rest.  
“Crap, crap, crap,” Clara repeated angrily, freeing her foot of the useless object. Looking at it more closely she immediately realized that there was no way of repairing it now, so she would have to suck it up and walk barefoot at least until she found a shop selling shoes.  
The cobblestone was jabbing into her foot and the heat of the sun had warmed it up so it felt like it was burning her skin, but as long as she kept to the shadows thrown by the buildings she would be fine. She just needed to make it to the next shoe shop.  
Following the directions of the shop owner she quickly found the pillar box – and she also found something else that was a lot more unpleasant. The Doctor was standing at the ice cream vendor right next to it, enjoying a large portion of what looked like very delicious ice cream. He would start laughing at her as soon as he spotted her dilemma and that was something she truly didn't need right now. However while Clara was still debating what to do, he had already noticed her.  
“Did you lose something?” he asked, nodding towards her feet.  
“That's amusing you, isn't it?” Clara spat back, her voice heavy with sarcasm as she approached the pillar box, her broken shoe in one hand, her postcards in the other.  
“Not at all,” he replied, licking his ice cream, “Just wondering whether it's an accident or a fashion statement. Or whether _you_ had an accident on your own shoes this time.”  
“None of your business,” Clara said matter-of-factly, dropped the cards in the box and headed in the opposite direction without the intention of paying any more attention to him.  
“I think you're headed the wrong way!” the Doctor called after her.  
Clara growled even though she was already too far away for him to hear it and swallowed her reply. Who did that man think he was? Even the pain the cobblestones were causing her foot didn't seem to matter as she walked away from him as quickly as possible.

It wasn't until she had already turned around a few corners that Clara was beginning to realize that the Doctor had been right. With no idea where exactly she was she drew her phone from her pocket and opened the app that was supposed to lead her back to the church. Yet the maps wouldn't load.  
“Oh come on,” Clara complained to the device, “We're in a city! There should be reception!”  
And yet there wasn't as her phone failed to log into a Portuguese network. The only thing her phone allowed her to do was to make emergency calls and something told her that a broken shoe and a lost tourist wasn't enough of an emergency for this kind of call. If Danny was here he would never have allowed for them to get lost. If Danny was here he would have fixed her shoe or offered her his own before letting her walk barefoot. If Danny was here. . .  
“I told you it was the wrong way,” a voice with a Scottish accent said a few metres behind her and when Clara turned around the Doctor was smiling at her. She had expected it to be belittling but somehow his smile seemed somewhere between mildly amused and sincere.  
“Go away,” Clara told him and turned around to resume her walk.  
“Still the wrong way. The church is in the other direction.” He was following her.  
“Who says I'm going to the church? Maybe I'm headed elsewhere?” she stared straight ahead, determined not to let his comments get to her.  
“And where will you go with no map and only one shoe?”  
Finally Clara stopped. She inhaled sharply before turning to face him. The Doctor still wasn't laughing. “Why are you following me? To laugh? To gloat? Or do you just want to annoy me?”  
“I was going to offer you my help,” the Doctor explained with a light shrug.  
She snorted. Yeah, as if. “Your help? Seriously?”  
“Seriously.”

Clara didn't know what to reply while she was still trying to figure out whether he actually meant it or not. She really couldn't tell at the moment until he stretched out his hand.  
“Give me your shoe,” he told her.  
“Why?” her voice was wary.  
The Doctor rolled his eyes, seemingly impatient. “I'm hungry and women's sandals are my favourite. To fix it, of course!”  
Reluctantly and still uncertain about the whole situation Clara eventually handed over her shoe. She watched as the Doctor sat down on the nearest bench and produced a small case from inside his camera bag. When he opened it Clara spotted nail scissors, a small screwdriver, needle and yarn, several plasters and a tiny tube of instant glue.  
“Why?” she asked again, sinking down in the seat next to him while the Doctor immediately began to glue the strap of her sandal back to the sole.  
“Why what?”  
“Why are you helping me?”  
The Doctor blew the air out between his lips. “Because I've already plucked pieces of broken glass out of feet and it's not pretty,” he explained harshly.  
Clara didn't dare to say anything else, so instead she kept watching his fingers do their work and hold her sandal together until he eventually handed it back to her.  
“Here,” the Doctor said, “That'll last for the rest of the day, I think.”  
She was just about to thank him for his help when the Doctor abruptly rose from the bench. “Alright, let's get back. The others will already be waiting for us by the church.”  
“I can find my own way back,” Clara protested but was immediately silenced by the look he threw her.  
He let out a groan before he shook his head. “You're a stubborn one, aren't you, Clara Oswald? Well, swallow that pride for a moment and follow me.”

After she had put her shoe back on her feet Clara rose from the bench as well and started to trail after him, only now realizing that he seemed to remember her name from the very first evening while she had never even heard his.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments :) Let's see what sort of trouble they get into now. . .

John had made the decision to mingle. He knew very well that it was unlikely he would find someone to spend the rest of his life with on this cruise, he would be lucky just to find someone for a few weeks among these people but that didn't mean he couldn't at least give it a try. However once he had stepped into the bar his courage failed him, like it always did. He just wasn't the type for this. Not the type for bars, not the type to approach women and again he wondered what the hell Missy had been thinking. Now that he was here, dressed in a nice suit and with his hair somewhat tamed John didn't actually know what to do. So he simply went up to the bar and ordered a Scotch.  
“Can we bury the hatched?” a voice behind him asked and when he turned around John looked straight into Clara's face. She wasn't necessarily dolled up, just wearing a simple, black dress and heels that brought them both a little closer to eye level. With her insecure smile she looked quite pretty.  
“I meant to say thanks earlier but then the tour started and afterwards I lost sight of you,” she explained sincerely.  
After a moment of consideration he gave a short nod and pointed towards a table next to the bar. John knew that part of their quarrel was his fault for rebuffing her first honest apology. Bad day. Bad timing. If she could make a sincere attempt, so could he.  
They both took a seat and when the waiter came Clara ordered a cocktail for herself with which they toasted to a mutual truce.  
“You're here without your friend tonight,” John remarked, raising his eyebrows, “You didn't stalk me just to say thanks, did you?”  
Clara snorted. “Certainly not. But it seems like we're just gonna keep running into each other. I don't know how that's possible with a ship as big as this.”  
“Karma,” he replied, sipping his drink, “Your punishment for getting hammered and puking on my shoes.”  
“If that's the case you seem to be getting punished with me. As for Amy, I think she's been out in the sun too long. Got a bit of a sunstroke.”  
John nodded. “Tell her to drink lots of water and stay cool. If it's just a light sunstroke she'll be fine tomorrow or the day after.”

An awkward silence fell over their table, giving John enough time to ask himself what exactly they were doing. He didn't really like her, she probably didn't like him very much either. Would they stay at the table and make forced small talk all night? Not knowing what else to do he took a sip from his drink, watching Clara do the same.  
“Should I watch out for my shoes if you keep drinking?” he asked eventually.  
He saw it on her face that she was about to say something rude and it amused him a little, the fact that he could so easily push her buttons.  
“I had a bit of a bad day,” Clara said instead even though he could still see that look on her face that told him she would just love to scratch his eyes out, “I don't drink often.”  
“You're drinking now.”  
She slammed her glass back on the table, her dark eyes boring into him. “Can't you even stay nice for just five minutes?”  
“I can,” John shrugged, “But room service took the shoes you ruined and these are the only ones I have left except for a pair of flip flops for the swimming pool.”  
He chuckled and after a moment of hesitation even Clara began to laugh. “We're ridiculous, you know that, right?”  
“Says the woman who-”  
“For God's sake, will you stop?” Clara giggled, “Do you know how hard it was for me to walk up to you and apologize? I've never done anything so embarrassing in my entire life.”  
“Would it make you feel better if I got drunk and puked on your shoes in return?” John suggested jokingly.  
A tiny frown appeared on her face as she thought about it. “Yeah, I think it would,” she concluded, “Not on these shoes though. They were expensive.”  
“So were mine.”  
They both laughed again but this time Clara was the first to grow serious once more. “What's your name?” she asked him, “I can't keep calling you _Doctor_ cause you seemed pretty annoyed when I tried that.”  
“John Smith,” he replied.  
Clara raised her eyebrows. “Mr Smith.”  
“Call me John,” he threw her a mischievous smile, “I think we passed that intimacy stage on the first evening.”  
In response Clara crumpled her napkin and threw it at his chest. He only picked it up and threw it right back. After they had exchanged the napkin ball a couple of times John decided to end the game and keep it.  
“We're on a singles' cruise. Why aren't you out there, finding a nice boy?” John asked. He didn't know where it had come from but suddenly he was interested in the person that was Clara Oswald. It was definitely better to be in her company and tease her mercilessly than to be sitting at the table alone.  
At his question however the smile faded from Clara's face and she cleared her throat before having a sip from her cocktail. This time he refrained from making a joke about it. “The cruise was Amy's idea. She left her husband and needed to get out.”  
“So you're not actually _on the market_?”  
“I don't know,” she replied brusquely, “I haven't really made up my mind about that yet.”  
When she emptied her drink John thought that she looked quite upset and he decided not to push the matter further. Maybe Clara had just had a fight with her boyfriend or they had broken up too recently for her to be considering something new. Whatever it was, if Clara didn't tell him of her own free will, it was nothing of his concern.  
“What brings _you_ on a singles' cruise?” Clara asked suddenly, staring straight at him. Her good mood had faded away, he could feel it and she had replaced it with a mask. He had worked with people for too long and he could tell a fake smile from a real one.  
“Uhm, actually, my sister,” John couldn't help but chuckle about the nasty trick she had pulled on him now, “My sister booked us a cruise as my birthday present and when she brought me to the harbour she informed me that I would be going on my own. It wasn't until I saw the brochures in my cabin that I realized what kind of cruise this is.”  
“What?” Clara blurted out in disbelief.  
John simply shrugged. “Missy has been trying to set me up for years. I work a lot and I don't get out much. I guess she thought it was a good idea. Or she just wanted to trick me. You can never know with Missy.”  
Clara laughed at his comment and when he looked at her John realized that he actually liked seeing her laugh. She seemed a lot nicer and a lot less annoying when she did.  
“So, since we're both here now, what do we do with this cruise?” she asked him after a moment.  
John waved towards the waiter, indicating to him to refill their glasses.  
“If I get us another drink, will you promise me that my shoes are safe?”  
Clara buried her face in her hands, laughing as she did. “You will have this engraved on my tombstone.”  
The waiter came, bringing him another glass of scotch and a second cocktail for Clara and when John glanced up he saw a flicker of amusement in the waiter's eyes. He thought they were here on a date. For a moment he felt a stab of pride, to have someone assume he could get a date with a woman as young and beautiful as Clara.  
John took a sip, feeling a little braver with the alcohol in his blood and inspired by the waiter's looks. “We could surprise everyone by getting married on this cruise,” he joked, answering her former question, “My sister would be flabbergasted and it would probably take months for the shock to settle.”  
To his surprise Clara seemed amused by his suggestion. “I could see us, ten years from now, being asked how we met at a dinner party and you would respond with _she got drunk off her arse and vomited on my shoes_.”  
“I would put those shoes on display in the living room show case and every time we get into a fight I'd point at them and ask _Darling, remember that time?_ ”

They kept the game going for a while longer until they were both howling with laughter, probably drawing the attention of every else in the room. John, for once, didn't care. Clara had been the last person he would have expected to have a good time with and all it had taken was for them both to stop being jerks and take the situation with a good sense of humour. He ordered them more drinks, each time asking if his shoes were still safe, which made her laugh even more. It wasn't long until John noticed the alcohol take its effect, he rarely drank after all, but in Clara's company it didn't really seem to matter. And they were on a party cruise, just having a good time. He hadn't had so much fun with a complete stranger in years, even when they moved on to talking about their jobs or where they lived. Somehow they found something amusing about every topic.  
“Are _my_ shoes still safe?” Clara giggled after a while.  
“As safe as it gets,” he replied, nodding towards her glass, “Might wanna take them off for walking after that though.”  
“John, I have _mastered_ the art of walking in heels while drunk,” she drawled a little, “I grew up in Blackpool. We practised this as teens up and down the pier.”  
“This is the next level, walking on a moving, swaying boat.”  
“Challenge accepted,” Clara said determinedly and raised her glass before drinking, “How about you? The Scottish guy sticking to scotch?”  
John eyed his glass. “Well, you know us. We stick to what we know.”  
Suddenly she reached out and switched their glasses, shoving her colourful cocktail in front of his nose. “This is a party cruise. Time to experiment.”  
He sniffed her drink and wasn't at all surprised when it smelled disgustingly sweet and somehow it also smelled like an absolutely bad idea. But then he saw Clara raise his own glass at him and he followed her lead.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments :D  
> They're in trouble now, are they? ;)

When Clara once again woke up with the throbbing headache of a very painful hangover she swore to herself that that had definitely been her last time to drink on this cruise. Her party and drinking days were over, they had been over for years. It was time she accepted that and right now she did so with a loud growl. Aspirin. She needed Aspirin and briefly wondered whether Amy was already up to get her some.  
“Amy,” Clara muttered, “You up?”  
When instead of Amy's voice she was suddenly greeting with snoring Clara jumped up in bed as quickly as possible and looked around. Not her cabin. Not her bed. And not her friend next to her. Instead there was John Smith.  
She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that both of them were still fully clothed even though their shoes piled up on a heap next to the bed. So nothing had happened last night. Nothing could have happened last night, seeing how drunk they had both been and still Clara wasn't so very keen on still being in this room when he woke up. How on earth had she even ended up here in the first place?  
Searching her brain for last night's memories the last thing she could actively remember was them both trying out the most ludicrous sounding cocktail on the menu and after that nothing. A complete mental blank.  
When John gave another loud snore Clara battled the soreness in her entire body and rose from the bed, not without noticing her surroundings. His cabin definitely looked a lot nicer than the one she shared with Amy but since he was a doctor he could probably afford it.

Clara bent down to pick up her shoes but just when she was about to turn away and leave her eyes fell on a piece of paper lying on the floor. With her curiosity sparked she went to have a closer look. Clara only managed to read the words _Certificate of Marriage_ and both their names before she started uttering the word _fuck_ over and over again. Certificate of Marriage. Clara Oswald. John Smith. A stamp and the captain's signature. It was all there on the simple piece of paper.  
Suddenly John stirred on the bed and Clara froze in shock. They had gotten married last night. They had actually gotten married on this cruise, after joking about it for hours. Clara swallowed, suddenly feeling hit by a wave of nausea. She needed to get out of this cabin before he woke up. While John simply rolled over in his sleep Clara walked back to the door as quietly as possible, leaving it without making a sound. She only started to breathe again once she was out on the corridor.  
“Fuck,” she uttered, hitting her head against the nearest wall, “ _Fuck, fuck, fuck!_ ”  
How on earth had they ended up with it? How had they gotten married? On a cruise ship. While drunk. How, how, how? Slowly Clara made her way back to her own cabin, shoes in her hand and glad that no one else seemed to be up yet. Yes, once they had both started acting like civilized people she and John had gotten along well. They had gotten along better than that. John was nice and funny and good looking, she had noticed that last part during their first meeting already while commenting on his funny hair, but that wasn't enough to actually _marry_ him. They had laughed together last night, she had even flirted with him a little although Clara hadn't been so sure whether John had actually realized what she had been doing. If it hadn't been for the marriage certificate Clara might have even asked him out on a date just because they were on a singles' cruise and he seemed harmless enough, without the danger of having to commit to something she wasn't ready for. But now it seemed that she had gotten herself into the ultimate commitment. 

When Clara stopped in front of her cabin door her heart sank as she looked down on her bare arms. The wristband. She had lost it.  
“Damn,” she cursed and knocked, knowing no other way to get inside than to wake Amy. She knocked again, and again more furiously until finally she could hear her friend mutter something on the other side of the door right before it opened.  
Amy looked sleepy, annoyed and utterly dishevelled when she glared at her. “I hope you have a good reason for waking me up at 6.”  
Clara swallowed. “Lost my wristband,” she admitted sheepishly.  
Her friend eyed her from head to toe, only now seeming to realize what was going on. “Clara Oswald, you minx,” Amy giggled, the tiredness obviously leaving her at the prospect of a good story. When Clara stepped inside she immediately fell down on their bed, head first and face buried in her pillows.  
“Amy, I fucked up. _Big time_ ,” she confessed, her voice muffled through the pillow.  
The bed next to her sank in, telling Clara that Amy had joined her. “Alright, who did you sleep with? Come on, tell me!”  
“No one,” she said, “I slept with no one. It's worse. Much, much worse.”  
“Did you puke on someone else's shoes?”  
Clara raised her head, trying to give Amy a stern look but finding that she couldn't meet her gaze and dropped her head back into the protection of the pillow. How was she going to explain this? And if she couldn't even look at Amy to admit what she had done, what would it be like with John? Oh God, she had to talk to him again at some point.  
“Clara?” Amy asked, her voice sounding a lot gentler this time.  
She inhaled sharply. “I got married.”  
“ _What?! When? How?!_ ”  
Finally Clara scrambled into a sitting position but she still tried her best to avoid looking at her friend. The incident with the shoes wasn't the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to her, the accidental marriage was. She would never drink again in her life.  
“Are you alright?” even out of the corner of her eyes Amy looked somewhere between curious, excited and also worried.  
“No,” Clara replied in a low voice, “When you went to bed last night I went to have a look around and saw John standing by the bar.”  
“John?”  
“That's his name,” Clara explained, “The guy with the shoes. Anyway, I walked up to him, said thanks for his help with my sandal and then we just started talking.”  
“Must have been one hell of a conversation if it ended in marriage,” Amy joked but upon looking at Clara's face quickly shut up again.  
“He was _really_ nice,” she said and even to her it sounded as if she was somehow trying to justify her actions, “We were drinking and he was funny and he kept making jokes about what had happened on the first evening. Then we joked about getting married, how much it would shock his sister and I guess. . . I guess we somehow ended up doing it.”  
“You don't remember how it happened?” Amy's eyes widened.  
Clara simply shook her head.  
“Then how do you know? Did _he_ say that?”  
“No, he was still sleeping when I left his cabin. But I found a marriage certificate lying around with both our names and the captain's signature on it. I don't know if John remembers what happened but I doubt it.”  
“Is that even legal?” her friend asked, “I mean, the captain can't just marry two strange people.”  
“The document was there,” Clara argued, “And my aunt and uncle got married on a cruise back then, too. So I'm afraid it _is_ legal. Amy, what do I do?!”  
She sank back into the pillows, the gravity of what she had done and her hangover making her want to cry.  
“First of all, don't panic,” Amy advised her, settling down on the bed as well, “Talk to John, ask him if he remembers it.”  
“I can't talk to him! Not now, not ever! God, this is the most embarrassing thing ever to happen in my entire life!”  
“Well, you're gonna have to. He's your husband now.”  
“Don't say it like that,” Clara muttered and cringed at the sound of the word but it also triggered another memory, one from long, long ago. She and Danny had talked about the possibility of marriage in the future. Danny. How could she have forgotten about him? How come she hadn't thought about him once since John had asked her if she was single?  
“Well, depending on what they say you might be able to get your marriage annulled,” Amy suggested after a while, “I mean, if you were drunk, it can't have been a consensual union, right? But you need to talk this through with John.”  
With a heavy sigh Clara closed her eyes. Yeah, she would have to do that. But not right now.

* * *

John tried his best to ignore the hangover and fall back asleep. That was why he never drank, that was the exact reason. He would just have to sleep until the pain had subsided to a bearable level so he closed his eyes and tried to think of something nice. Clara. The lovely evening they had spent together. Her unadulterated laugh. The way her cheeks blushed at the slightest mention of her mishap during the first evening.  
Suddenly John was wide awake, feeling a twinge in his stomach when the realisation struck him. He _liked_ Clara. Oh, this was bad. Very bad indeed. But no, he wouldn't go around acting on his affections for a woman around thirty years younger than himself, who may or may not be single, not even on a cruise like this. John would continue to be nice to her if they crossed paths but no more.  
When he stretched out his arms his hand suddenly hit an object and John lifted it up, recognizing it as a wristband that was not his own. He was wearing his own. Then his foggy memory started to return to him and he almost jumped out of bed.

There it was. Lying on the floor. The simple piece of paper that could turn his whole life upside down.  
“ _Fuck._ ”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so, so, so much for your sweet comments :) I had a feeling you would like this. Oh dear, what are they gonna do now?

She wasn't at breakfast even though John took his time at the buffet and eating his croissant and cereal, and she wasn't waiting for him back by his cabin door. Surely by now Clara had started to miss her wristband and she couldn't rely on her friend Amy to escort her around all day in case she needed to use it. John even checked the book shop but there was no Clara. He needed to talk to her about what had happened if she hadn't seen the certificate while leaving his cabin already, he needed to give her back her wristband and he tried very hard to suppress that one voice inside his head that told John he really, really wanted to see her again.  
While he wandered aimlessly around the ship John wondered how on earth it had come to this. They had started out hating each other but the longer he had been in her presence, actually talking and being nice, the more Clara had started to grow on him. If he was completely honest it had started even earlier while he had spotted that stubborn woman walking around Lisbon with only one shoe instead of asking for help but all of that didn't change the fact that he needed to put a stop to these thoughts. Clara probably still didn't like him. Why else would she have fled his cabin some time during the night without saying a word?

Last night was mostly a blur, at least after he and Clara had had the insane idea to try some of those sugary drinks that still made him feel as though a piano had been dropped on his head, but there were flashes of memories, little things. Like him and Clara joking more and more about how ridiculous it would be if they were actually married. And then standing in front of the captain, _begging_ to be married. This cruise was really turning into a nightmare. 

John was just walking past one of the cafés when he glanced inside and spotted her bent over a large cup of coffee and his heart almost skipped a beat. After taking a couple of deep breaths he finally gathered up the courage to call her name.  
Clara raised her head and immediately he could see the panic on her face. So either she had indeed found the certificate or she was assuming something else entirely had happened last night. Oh God, what if she thought they had. . . he would _never_.  
“Clara, we need to talk,” he said as he approached her and without a warning Clara jumped up from her seat and darted straight into the nearest bathroom.  
John made an attempt to follow her but instantly bumped into another young woman.  
“Excuse me, this is the ladies' toilet!” she complained loudly and pushed him out of the door. Throwing a glance over his own shoulder he realized that the entire café was staring at him now. But he needed to speak with Clara.  
He leaned his back against the wall and opened the door just a crack, enough so he could talk to whoever was inside but not enough to look and be considered a pervert by everyone around. “Clara, can you hear me?”  
There was nothing to be heard at all for a long moment and finally, hesitantly, he heard her reply. “Yes.”  
John inhaled sharply, thinking about how to start. “I found your wristband,” he explained, “I want to give it back to you.”  
When she didn't even reply to that he felt slightly at a loss and his only comfort was that he knew she couldn't stay in there forever. At some point Clara would come out and then they would have to talk but he needed to get a few things off his chest as soon as possible.  
“Clara, we need to talk about last night,” John said so quietly that only Clara would be able to hear it, “I don't know what you remember, I certainly don't remember all but there are things we need to discuss. Please, just come out of there.”  
No response.  
“Whatever you think happened last night I swear I never touched you. I would never do that, Clara, there's no need to be scared of me.”  
“I'm not scared of you,” came her small voice from the inside and finally the door to the bathroom opened and he looked right into Clara's big, dark eyes. She seemed utterly terrified despite saying otherwise.  
“Clara, I-”  
“I saw the certificate,” she blurted out.  
Not knowing what else to say John reached into his pocket and handed her wristband back to her. Clara thanked him quietly before she strapped it back around her arm.  
“Obviously neither of us really wants-”  
“Can we not discuss it in front of everyone?” Clara asked him a little brusquely, “It's embarrassing as it is. No need to make it public.”  
“ _Embarrassing?_ ” he couldn't help but feel slightly taken aback by her choice of words. He would have called it a lot of things but not embarrassing. A mistakes, yes. A stupid idea, hell yeah. But not embarrassing.  
“Well, yeah,” Clara frowned at him.  
“So being married to me is an embarrassment for you?!” John would have never admitted it now but hearing Clara say it like that hurt. He liked her and though even after last night he hadn't expected her to like him back at the same extend he was still a proud man and certainly not an embarrassment to be married to. Before John could think better of it he turned towards the people staring at them. “Since you all seem so interested in our little argument, here are the details for you: my wife thinks it's an embarrassment to be married to me,” he spat and watched them all slowly turn their heads to their food and drinks.

Suddenly Clara grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the café and along the ship's corridors, not saying anything until there was no one else in sight.  
“There was absolutely no need to cause a scene like that,” Clara yelled at him, her anger flaring up in her eyes and somehow she seemed a little taller while she was shouting at him, “I never said _you_ were an embarrassment, I was talking about the circumstances and just so you know – this is all _your_ fault!”  
John snorted. “ _My_ fault? Excuse me, but how exactly is that all _my_ fault? Your signature is on that piece of paper just as well as mine!”  
“You let me drink! You've seen what happens when I do that on the first night!” Clara said, jabbing his chest with her index finger, “You should've known something bad would happen!”  
“Clara, I'm not your babysitter,” he replied, laughing at the silliness of her argument, “And as my signature on that certificate proves I wasn't exactly in my right mind last night, seeing as I ended up getting married to _you_.”  
They both glared at each other for a moment and he could see that Clara was dying to throw an insult at him but eventually the anger started to fade from her face. After a while they both burst into laughter.  
“Well, your sister is gonna get one hell of a surprise,” Clara remarked after a moment.  
John couldn't help but groan. “God, she's going to tease me about this until the day I die.”  
He started moving his feet and Clara followed after him. A few turns later they found themselves on deck in a corner he so far hadn't seen and he realized why that was. They were in an empty playground, something not really needed on a singles' and party cruise where there were no children and John sank down on one of the swings. Clara did the same.  
“So, how exactly did that happen?” she asked him after a moment, “I can't really remember much after the cocktails.”  
John snorted. “Yeah, those killed me, too. And they were your idea, by the way.”  
“Stop shifting the blame. We're in this together now, so tell me what you remember.”  
“Well,” he exhaled sharply, “We kept joking about getting married. I don't really know why, it seemed funny last night. I don't actually know whose idea it was to go through with it but we went to the captain. He was pretty annoyed. Or amused. Or both. And I remember us saying we wouldn't leave until he married us, so he did. Then we went back to my cabin and I went straight to sleep.”  
Clara remained silent for a long while and all he could hear was the squeaking of their swings.  
“Amy said we can get an annulment back in England as long as we don't consummate it – which shouldn't be a problem, either cause we were both drunk or,” she paused and when he turned to look at her John saw her nod towards his hand. Right. His own wedding ring. He had completely forgotten about that.  
“Oh, no, I'm not married. This,” he twisted the ring on his finger, “This is old, very old. I had stopped wearing it but then a couple of my patients had started asking me out and I found this to be a better excuse than _sorry, this isn't covered by your insurance_.”  
John turned to look at her, a shy laugh escaping his throat and to his relief Clara was smiling, too. And then it dawned on him. “Wait, were you thinking I was married and still went on a singles' cruise?”  
“I don't know,” Clara shrugged, “I didn't really think about it at all.”  
“I'm not that kind of guy,” John pushed himself off the ground and lifted his feet, swinging a little higher, “My wife died 16 years ago. I still wear the ring cause now I'm married to my work. I'm not actively looking for something.”  
“My boyfriend died, too,” Clara's voice was low and sounded a little broken. She didn't return the gaze when John tried to look at her.  
“I'm sorry,” he said sincerely, “Recent?”  
“Nine months,” she breathed, “Some days it feels like yesterday, some days it feels like it happened in another life.”  
“And right now?” John wasn't sure why he was even asking.  
Clara finally turned around, looking directly at him with her sad eyes. “As if it happened to another person altogether.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments, babes :)

“Clara, can you please just eat?”  
She looked up from her salad plate and stared into Amy's slightly annoyed face, only now realizing that she had only been pushing the contents of her salad from one side of the plate to the other without actually eating it. Finally she stabbed a piece of cucumber with her fork and stuffed in into her mouth.  
“There,” she said, “I'm eating. Happy?”  
“No,” Amy frowned, “You're not still thinking about the marriage thing, are you? I thought you talked about it.”  
They had. They had talked for hours about how they were going to get an annulment as soon as they were back in England, that he would take another day off work so they could go together and get everything settled. John had also spoken about his late wife and how long it had taken him to slowly come to terms with being a widower, reassuring Clara that although the loss would never truly go away, although it would always feel like an unfinished chapter in one's life, it would get better eventually. Clara in return had spoken of Danny and the accident as openly as she hadn't to anyone else, because John understood her where no one else did. Danny's friends and parents had suffered the loss of the same person, but not _the same loss_. John however knew what she was talking about. He was a great listener and he was careful and kind in his replies and once the topic had switched to something lighter Clara had once again forgotten all about Danny, like she had on the evening before and she wasn't sure whether she actually enjoyed this feeling of him not being in her thoughts.  
“Clara?”  
She looked up to find the waiter standing next to them and after spluttering in surprise for a bit she asked him for a glass of water.  
“How's the sunstroke?” Clara asked to finally change the topic.  
“Much better,” Amy replied, stuffing a piece of steak into her mouth, “Still got a light headache. I'll definitely wear a hat tomorrow when we go to see Barcelona.”  
Right. Clara had almost forgotten about that, too. Tomorrow morning they would land in Barcelona and have another tour through the city. A part of her was wondering if John would mind joining her and Amy. It was silly how they had started out hating each other when they could get along so well.  
“You're still thinking about the marriage,” her friend hummed and continued to cut her steak into pieces.  
“Not really,” Clara breathed, “Just. . . other things.”  
“Like your husband?” Amy giggled and when Clara looked up her friend had a huge grin on her face.  
“We talked for a long while today. About Danny. About his late wife. It was good,” Clara explained and ate some more of her salad, the appetite slowly returning to her.  
“So he's a widower?”  
“Yes,” Clara confirmed.  
“And do you like him?”  
Clara smiled. “Of course I like him, he's nice.”  
Suddenly Amy cleared her throat and it made Clara look up to see a rather suspicious grin on her face. As soon as she had realized what Amy was talking about Clara's appetite quickly faded away again. What if she did like him? 

That question wouldn't let her rest even long after the lights in their cabin had been turned off. She didn't even want to move to avoid waking up Amy next to her. What if she liked John? What if that was the reason she kept forgetting about Danny when they were together? And back in Lisbon, Clara had wished for Danny to be there so he would fix her shoe and help her find her way back. John had ended up helping her with just exactly that even after she had been such a bitch towards him. He could make her smile and laugh and she felt comfortable in his presence. Too comfortable.  
A feeling of fear was beginning to creep up inside of her and it almost felt like losing Danny all over again. If Clara started to like another man that would mean to admit he was truly gone and she wasn't sure if she was ready for that step yet. To have some fling with a random guy, yes, she had considered that option. But not the option of developing feelings for someone else, especially not someone like John who made her feel like Danny had never existed in her head, even if it was just for an hour.  
Clara couldn't help it when the tears started to roll down her cheeks, there was no way of fighting them back now. She cried them for Danny, for losing him, cried them because she had ended up being married to a man that wasn't him, even if it was by accident, she cried them because she knew that one day in the future she would have to let him go. Suddenly she felt an arm around her and Amy snuggled against her back.  
“It's okay,” she told her quietly, “It's all gonna be okay.”  
Clara sniffed. “How do you know that?”  
“Because a wise man once said: if it's not okay, it's not over yet.”  
Clara took a deep breath and leaned back into her friend's embrace. Maybe she was right.

* * *

Even though he had gone to bed early thanks to the remnants of his hangover John hadn't exactly expected to wake up before 6, which was his usual schedule when he had to open his practice. Maybe he hadn't completely arrived on this holiday yet, but seeing as it was only the 5th day and there were many more ahead, he still had hope.  
John was wide awake and so he decided to slip into some comfortable clothes and go outside to watch the ship head towards the Spanish coast and just to be safe he also took his camera. If the weather was nice, and it certainly looked like it through the window, he would get a few wonderful pictures out of it.  
When he arrived on deck, the part filled with sunbeds for the vitamin D hungry masses, he found them all empty. There was only one other person standing by the railing and looking out on the ocean.  
“Can't sleep?” John asked her carefully as he came to a halt next to her. Clara seemed surprised to see him when she looked up but quickly put on a smile.  
“Went to bed early. Amy was still having a headache yesterday and, well, so I did,” she explained, “I woke up and the cabin felt a little stifling, so I came here.”  
He couldn't help but notice that her voice sounded a bit hoarse and her eyes were puffy as if from crying, not exactly the signs someone showed when they had gotten a good night's rest.  
“Are you okay? You look a b-”  
“John,” Clara giggled, “If this isn't going to turn into a compliment I'm going to think twice about signing anything to do with an annulment.”  
“Absolutely beautiful,” he joked, “I wanted to say that you look stunning this morning in your. . . flowery nightgown.”  
“I look like my own grandmother.”  
“Well,” he said, leaning against the railing, “Then your grandmother must be a really lovely woman.”  
“She's a great woman,” Clara said sincerely, “And she will love the story I'm going to tell her after this trip. She's gonna think of it as one hell of an adventure.”  
John remained silent and instead removed the cap from his lens, trying to see whether he could get a good picture of the rising sun. It was beautiful out here and for once even calm. Nothing but the sound of the waves and the low hum of the ship's engines.  
Clara inhaled deeply as if she had only just realized what a wonderful morning this was as well and suddenly John turned the camera on her, snapping a picture of her silhouette against the orange and gold sun on the purple sky. He smiled at the outcome and cute outline of her nose against the light.  
“Hey,” Clara complained immediately, “Let me see that.”  
He turned his camera around and after considering it for a moment Clara eventually nodded. “Alright, you can keep it.”  
Then she scooted closer to him and turned the camera around once more, pointing the lens at them.  
“What are you doing?” he asked.  
Clara grinned. “Selfie of the newlyweds.”  
John laughed at the thought of it and his smile was caught on camera only seconds later. It turned out to be a very lovely picture indeed and he had almost sighed. Under different circumstances meeting Clara could have changed his life. But as it was she was 30 years younger and still grieving for her boyfriend and she had no interest in him whatsoever.  
Suddenly Clara rested her head against his shoulder, her eyes set on the ocean in front of them. It was so tempting to just place his arm around her. He wanted it so much.  
“Aren't you cold?”  
“Just a little,” she replied, “But this is nice.”  
“You should try to get a bit more sleep. It's not even 6 yet,” he said and he knew it was reason speaking out of him because John really wanted to stay like this, “It's gonna be a long day in Barcelona.”  
He felt Clara shake her head against his shoulder. “No, I don't wanna go back into the cabin. I wanna stay here.”

Without thinking much about it John stepped away from her, took off his coat and gently draped it around her shoulders. Clara seemed surprised but she never protested when he took her hand and led her back to the sunbeds.  
“Aren't you gonna be cold now?” she asked him carefully.  
John shrugged, sinking back into one of the chairs. “I have my jumper.”  
“Your jumper's got holes in it.”  
He smiled at her. “Just sit down and shut up.”  
Finally Clara did what she was told and lay down in the sunbed next to him, lifting her slipper-clad feet up with a sigh. John turned his head around to make sure she was comfortable but Clara had already closed her eyes and so John did the same and soon felt himself drifting off into a slumber.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments :) They always make my day!!!!

“Wake up!”  
Clara stirred in her sleep but she was so warm and comfortable and she had dreamed something nice and she just wanted to enjoy it for a bit longer.  
“Clara, we've missed the tour!”  
Finally she blinked and stared right into John's face. He seemed wrought-up for some reason.  
“Tour? What tour?” she mumbled sleepily and closed her eyes against the light.  
She didn't really wake up properly until John snatched his jacket from her that she had been using as a blanket but suddenly her surroundings were beginning to come into focus.  
“The Barcelona tour,” he said and reached for her hand, dragging her up into a standing position. Clara was still tired and a little wobbly on her legs so she fell right against his chest. Quickly she regained her balance and straightened herself up.  
“What time is it?” Clara finally asked.  
“Half past 10. They left an hour ago,” he explained, “Sorry, I should've set an alarm.”  
“Not your fault,” she replied. When she looked over the railing now she could see the city ahead of them. Right. That was where they should have gone an hour ago, “What do we do? Can we catch up with them?”  
John shrugged. “Maybe if we knew where they went. But I doubt you want to go into the city dressed in that.”  
Clara looked down at herself and she realized that she was still in her flowery nightgown. John was right, she could hardly walk around the city like this. “Right, so, shower and change of clothes.”  
“Breakfast? What about that?”  
Her eyes fell on John now, on his scruffy face that still had all the traces of sleep written all over it, and back to the city before she had an idea. Maybe it wasn't her best idea, given that he was the reason she had cried herself to sleep last night, but it was what she wanted right now.  
“What if we forget about the tour and go explore Barcelona on our own?” she suggested hopefully, giving him a faint smile, “We could buy a tourist guide and who knows? Maybe we'll run into the others. If not, well, at least we'll get the see the sighs we want to see.”  
John seemed to consider it for a moment and didn't reply at first. Instead he shuffled his feet nervously.  
“Oh, come on,” she nudged him gently, “I can write Amy and ask where they have gone but chances are she won't see it. I don't want to miss out on Barcelona.”  
“Alright,” he finally agreed, “Meet you at the exit in 20 minutes?”  
Clara frowned at him. “What about breakfast?”  
It was then that John finally cracked a smile. “If we're gonna do Barcelona, we're gonna do it properly, starting with a nice café.”  
She beamed at him in reply, the idea of it making her extremely happy for some reason. “Meet you at the exit in 20.”

Clara almost rushed back to her cabin, the prospect of spending the day out with John somehow lifting her mood more than it should and she was aware of that. Yet right now, as she jumped into the shower and picked out a nice summer dress, it didn't really seem to matter and before she knew it she was heading back outside. Her phone still wasn't working properly and when Clara tried to send a message to Amy it repeatedly told her that no network was available. So she pocketed her phone and looked up to see John already waiting for her.  
They didn't have to walk very far to find a café and soon they sank down at a table in a quiet corner.  
Clara reached for the menu. “I couldn't write Amy,” she said after a moment, “My phone hasn't been working since we left England. I thought it was just Portugal but it can't seem to find a network anywhere.”  
John reached into his pocket and drew out his own phone. “Mine's working. Do you want to call her?”  
Clara raised her eyebrows. “The fees will be horrendous.”  
“I don't mind,” he gave a light shrug, “Besides, I don't know how else we're gonna find the group.”  
For a moment she considered giving him a lame excuse as to why she couldn't call her friend just to have this day alone with him but John had already unlocked his phone and held it in her direction. Clara took it with a forced smile and started to type.

_Hey Amy, I overslept and missed the tour group. Just text me where you are or a place and time when you will be meeting so I can catch up. Clara. P.S. My phone's not working, this is John's._

The text was sent just when a waitress appeared at their table and Clara looked up, opening her mouth but realizing that she hadn't even taken a proper look at the menu yet.  
“Do you want waffles?” John suddenly asked her and Clara shot around.  
“Uhm, yeah, waffles are fine,” she replied and before she could react John spoke to the waitress, uttering a few Spanish sentences that she didn't understand. The woman took a few notes before she gave them both a smile and walked back into the kitchen.  
“Did you just order in Spanish?” Clara asked him, still a bit baffled.  
“I, uhm, I did,” he replied, clearing his throat, “And waffles is about the only food I know the Spanish word for.”  
She couldn't help but giggle at his reply and suddenly Clara felt incredibly grateful for her mishap on the first evening. If it hadn't been for his ruined shoes she and John would never have talked in the first place. He asked her what sights she wanted to see today and Clara told him that the only thing she really wanted to do was to go up the Montjuïc to get a good look at the city and maybe take in the atmosphere while walking around the streets.  
“Some books I've read have made me really curious about the city. Have you ever read anything by Zafón?” Clara asked him.  
“I haven't really read anything at all these last few years. I've been so busy with my practice,” John said and suddenly reached for his phone again, “I should probably give them a call and ask how the replacement is doing since the reception here is good for once.”  
Clara stretched out her hand to take the phone back from him. “No,” she told him sternly, “You're on vacation. And we're having breakfast. I'm sure you picked your replacement carefully.”  
“But-”  
John didn't have a chance to finish his sentence when the waitress came back and set down two cups of coffee and two plates with delicious smelling waffles in front of them. Clara inhaled the scent deeply before she tore off part of her waffle and stuffed it right into her mouth. Suddenly John started to chuckle on the opposite side of the table.  
“What's so funny?” she asked him, her mouth still full.  
Still smiling John reached for her face and gently wiped her nose with his thumb. “Powdered sugar,” he said simply but Clara didn't really hear him over her own heartbeat. It was strange how such a simple gesture suddenly caused a turmoil inside of her head but the way he had touched her had instantly made her skin tingle. And the way he smiled at her now almost made him look boyish, despite his silver hair. Yes, maybe she did like him a little too much. She was too comfortable around John. If she had still been with Danny she would have never allowed another man that close but Danny was dead and John. . . It was complicated. They had gotten married by accident. They got along so well despite their rocky start. He was so much older, surely he saw nothing in her at all.

Clara had no chance of finishing her thoughts when John's phone started ringing. He looked at the screen before holding the device in her direction. “Should be your friend,” he said.  
When Clara had gathered her thoughts she answered the call. “Hey Amy.”  
“Where the hell have you been?!” Amy shouted at her through the phone, “I woke up and you were gone! I was worried sick about you after last night! I thought God knows what had happened to you!”  
Clara opened her mouth to speak, her heart sinking into her boots all of the sudden. She hadn't even considered the possibility that Amy might be worried. “I'm sorry,” she spluttered, “I went out for fresh air in the early morning and fell asleep on a sunbed. I didn't wake up until after you had left.”  
“I didn't leave with the group, you stupid cow!”  
“Amy!”  
“You left everything in our cabin! Your phone, your clothes! I went to the crew and asked them if they had seen you! I had them search the entire ship until I returned to the cabin and saw you had changed your clothes! Damn, I really thought something had happened to you!”  
“I'm sorry,” Clara repeated quietly, “I really am. I had no idea, I thought- I wasn't thinking, okay? I should have left a note.”  
“Nevermind!” Amy said grumpily and suddenly the line went dead, playing nothing but an endless beeping sound.  
Clara exhaled sharply and stared at the phone in her hand. “She hung up. Did you hear what she said?”  
John gave her a sympathetic smile. “I'm sorry I got you into trouble. It was my fault. It was my idea to stay on deck.”  
“No, I should have considered that Amy might be worried. We should probably get back to the ship,” Clara said and looked down at her plate, her appetite completely lost.  
Suddenly John's hand reached out to her again, lifting up her chin so she would look at him. He was still smiling so kindly. “Don't worry about her. She knows now that you're okay. Give her some time to cool down. Trust me, she'll have forgotten all about her anger in a few hours.”  
Suddenly Clara started to laugh. “How did we go from blaming the other to blaming everything on ourselves?”  
He shrugged. “I don't know but I'll blame you for having to eat my breakfast cold if we don't get to that now.”  
Finally Clara reached for another piece of waffle and put it in her mouth, the delicious food and the coffee slowly lifting her spirits. John was right. They should look around Barcelona for at least a while before heading back.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments :) Happy to make others happy with this story :D

Clara felt elevated and yet at the same time tired after spending the entire day walking around Barcelona. They hadn't actually paid a lot of attention to the sights around them and yet somehow they had seen so much and John had taken so many pictures until the battery of his camera had finally given up and they had decided to slowly head back to the ship. Being around him was wonderful. There was something about John that made Clara feel alive and understood even when he didn't say a word. And yes, she liked him. A lot. She wasn't quite sure where the feeling had come from but his small touches, the way he had wiped the powdered sugar from her nose, the way he had laid his hand on her shoulder to make her turn around and look at something, the way he had taken her hand to pull her out of the path of a cyclist, they made her feel _something_. His touches were scarce but that only managed to make them more special. Yet what she was supposed to do with these feelings Clara didn't know and that was the worry for another day. Tonight was the night of the event Clara had been looking forward to the most. A 1920s theme party. She and Amy would have a blast.

Clara carefully knocked on their cabin door before she entered just in case Amy was inside and to her surprise she found her friend lying on their bed.  
“Hey there,” Clara said carefully, “Are you still mad about this morning?”  
“No,” Amy croaked and quickly cleared her throat.  
There was something wrong with her, Clara was sure of that. Otherwise Amy wouldn't be lying in bed at this hour. She quickly sank down to look at her and realized her friend had been crying.  
“What's the matter?” Clara asked sympathetically.  
“Rory's on a date,” Amy replied, followed by a sniffing sound.  
“What?” she blurted out in response to the recent revelation, “How do you know that?”  
Amy sat up in bed and reached for the phone that was lying on her bedside table. After unlocking it and opening an app she handed it over to Clara. There was definitely the picture of Rory in the company of a young, pretty woman.  
“You don't know for sure that this is a date. He could be hanging out with co-workers and there are other people around that just aren't in the photo,” Clara tried to reason with her friend.  
“It _is_ a date. He's wearing his best shirt. The shirt _I_ bought him,” Amy snatched the phone back from her and sank back into the pillows.  
Clara took a deep breath. There was only one way she could break it to her friend and it wouldn't be gentle. “Yeah, but Amy,” she said carefully, “You left him. You left him so he could find someone else.”  
“I know what I did, Clara, no need to remind me!”  
“I wasn't finished,” her voice was determined, “You know better than anyone else that you still love him and I bet he feels exactly the same about you. If you want Rory back, tell him and he will ditch the woman in this picture within seconds and you know that's true.”  
Slowly Amy scrambled back into a sitting position, nodding. “I know, but the basic problem would still be there.”  
“What good is that if you're both miserable?” Clara nudged her gently, “Now, come on. Get dressed for the party. Maybe by tomorrow you'll have made up your mind.”  
“I don't feel like going out tonight,” Amy granted her an apologetic smile, “Sorry. I know you really want to go but I would only drag you down.”  
“Amy-”  
Suddenly the expression on her friend's face changed and Clara immediately became suspicious of it. “You know what? Why don't you go with John?”

Clara was surprised by her suggestion, mainly because it had crossed her mind earlier but she had thought it would look too much like a date if she asked him. Then again, they had had breakfast together, he had paid – wasn't that usually considered a date, too? Had they been out on a date without Clara even realizing it?  
“We got married by accident,” she laughed nervously, “That doesn't mean we have to do everything together now.”  
“What happened this morning?” Amy inquired curiously, her eyebrows cocked.  
Clara swallowed and averted her eyes, “We ran into each other on deck. Talked. Fell asleep on the sunbeds. Nothing more.”  
“And then you went into the city to spend the whole day together. Clara, it's been nine months,” her friend said earnestly, “It's okay if you like someone and you wanna spend time with them. So what if he's a little older? So what if you two went a little crazy on this cruise? You're here to have fun. If you like him, just go for it. And if you regret it you'll only have to meet once after this cruise is over to get your annulment and you'll never have to see him again.”  
“But Danny-”  
“Nine months,” Amy reminded her, “You're allowed to get your life back at some point.”  
“So that means you're coming, too.”  
Softly Amy shook her head. “I need some time to think, consider my options. You go with John.”  
Finally Clara drew in a deep breath and nodded.

* * *

When John went to answer that knock on his door he wasn't quite sure what he had expected to find but when he spotted Clara standing in the doorway of his cabin he knew he certainly hadn't expected _that_. She was wearing a 20s flapper dress, short, dark and adorned all over with golden beads, showing off her cleavage just as much so it could still be considered decent. He wasn't quite sure what she had done with her hair but it seemed a tad shorter than it had just an hour ago and she was beaming at him with red lips. His mouth suddenly felt a little dry.  
“Congratulations, husband,” she smiled mischievously, “I've decided that you'll be my date for the party tonight.”  
John opened his mouth to reply while also trying very hard not to see what was so clearly on display in front of from. When Clara blinked he could have sworn her lashes were also longer than usual.  
“What are you waiting for?” she asked him impatiently, “Get dressed! There's a 20s theme party going on and I really want to go.”  
“I, uhm,” he spluttered but his mind just couldn't come up with a sane reason to say no until finally he found one. “I can't. I don't have a costume.”  
“A suit will do,” she said excitedly, “Men's fashion didn't change that much.”  
“Really, Clara, I can't.” Or rather he shouldn't. He really shouldn't. The day they had spent together had already been too much. Everything from their meeting this morning had been too much. John felt so drawn to her and he knew it could not in a million years end well. He couldn't even understand why Clara liked to spend time with him except that maybe she was lonely but he shouldn't give in to it. In the end he would fall just a little in love with her only to have his heart broken when they parted ways forever after their annulment.  
Suddenly her facial expression changed, turning from a smile into a pout and she looked at him through her large eyes. Damn, she had made them even larger with some womanly make-up trick. She stomped past him into his cabin and sank down on his bed with a sigh. Oh no, that wasn't good.  
“Please?” Clara looked up at him, “Amy is sulking about her husband and this party is the only thing on this cruise that I actually wanted to attend. I even bought this dress just for the occasion. Please, I just don't wanna go alone. You know me and the sort of trouble I get into.”

For a moment John thought that maybe he should have just heeded Missy's advice and started a fling with a random woman on his first or second day, any woman except Clara because she was just the type he could fall for. Why did everything have to be so complicated?  
“Please?” she begged him again.  
John let out a growl. “How exactly can I say no to you when you show up already dressed and ready to go and give me your puppy dog eyes, Clara?”  
Her face lit up. “Is that a yes?”  
“Of course it's a yes,” he rolled his eyes, “Give me 10 minutes to shower and get dressed.”  
“Perfect!” Clara giggled and fell back on his bed, “I'll just wait here.”  
While John retrieved his best suit from the wardrobe he couldn't help but glance at Clara, lying on his bed, on her stomach, the book he had started to read a few days ago in her hands and suddenly a thought crossed his mind that he knew he shouldn't even have. He needed to remind himself that she was about 30 years younger, that she had no interest, that she would probably burst into laughter if she ever saw him naked and therefore any physical action between them was out of the question. John should never even be thinking about it.  
He grabbed his suit and headed for the shower without turning back. Maybe the water would clear his mind.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guy so, so, so much for the sweet comments! Keep them coming today, please, I could use some cheering up.

A big band was playing on the stage at the far end of the nicely decorated room, accompanied by the singing of three women. A few couples were dancing already, others stood by the buffet or were having drinks at their tables and Clara certainly hadn't lied: he fit in well just wearing his suit. The song that hung in the air seemed familiar to John and he had to admit that it certainly fit on a cruise ship, just not exactly in the decade they were aiming at.  
He chuckled. “The song is actually younger than the 20s.”  
“Shhh,” Clara shushed him and when he looked at her she wore a smile on her face, “Wanna dance?”  
John opened his mouth in protest as Clara reached for his arm and attempted to drag him in the direction of the dance floor. “We never agreed on dancing,” he said, standing as still as he could.  
Clara gave him a light shrug. “Alright. Later then.”  
A formally dressed waiter passed them and Clara reached out to snatch two glasses from his tray before handing one of them to John.  
“Is that wise?” he raised his eyebrows at her, “Remember last time?”  
“It's just a glass of champagne. Besides, I didn't ask you here so you could be a grump all night. If you want that you can leave right now.”  
John knew he shouldn't have come in the first place, not while Clara was looking as beautiful as she did right now. He wanted nothing more than to hold her in his arms and dance with her but he knew that once he had started he wouldn't want to stop at just that. Damn this cruise. Damn this lovely woman. So John put on a smile and raised his glass to his lips. 

They walked towards one of the empty tables and even though they had spent the entire day together John was suddenly nervous. The day out in Barcelona was one thing, this dance was quite another. It was almost like a date and he didn't want to give Clara the impression that he treated it as such. She just hadn't wanted to go on her own, that was all. He downed his champagne, hoping it would sweep away his fears but it didn't. It just made him more jittery.  
“Are you tired?” Clara asked him after a while, her eyes set on the dancing couples. She seemed to be looking at them almost longingly. Maybe he could dare a tiny little dance?  
“A little. You?”  
“I'm fine,” she breathed and it sounded a bit like a lie. Clara must have been exhausted after walking around the city all day and John was sure the sleep she had gotten at night hadn't been particularly restful.  
The waiter came, taking away their empty glasses and exchanging them for new ones. Clara sipped her drink, still staring in the direction of the dance floor. Maybe he should try to make an effort, to make her happy. She certainly seemed as if she really wanted to dance.  
“Excuse me, but may I buy you a drink?”  
John looked up and noticed that a young man had appeared at their table, talking to Clara. He was her own age, maybe some years older and dressed in a pinstripe suit. _And_ he was talking to Clara.  
“Or are you two here together?” the young man asked, exchanging looks between him and Clara. While John was still trying to find the right words Clara answered for them both.  
“Will you dance with me?” she asked the young man.  
“If you want to,” he smiled and before John knew what was happening the other man had taken Clara's hand and started leading her away.  
He had to do something. Anything. But John couldn't think about anything he could say to Clara to lure her away from the other man. So instead he darted after them both and got a hold of Clara's other hand, using the element of surprise to pull her away and in the direction of the dance floor. 

“What's gotten into you?” Clara laughed once they had arrived among the other dancing couples and John had placed his arm around her waist. His steps were a little clumsy at first but he soon found the rhythm, leading Clara around the floor to the jazz music.  
John granted her a light smile. “You made me come here so I could keep you out of trouble. I'm doing just that.”  
He twirled her around before she came back to rest in his arms. Clara giggled. “You were jealous,” she noted, sounding a little amused.  
John cleared his throat. “I am at a dance with a beautiful, young woman. I certainly won't let anyone steal that woman away.”  
Still Clara laughed, obviously not buying that from him. He had to think of something quickly. “Well, you got your wish. We're dancing. Be happy.”  
“I am,” she confirmed sincerely, “I am happy.”  
They stayed on the dance floor for that song and another, and then another and John was beginning to feel more comfortable, dancing with Clara. He was even beginning to enjoy it, even though he scolded himself internally for these thoughts because he knew it could break his heart once they parted ways forever after their annulment.  
“What are you thinking about?” she suddenly asked him and John became aware that Clara had been staring at him while he had been lost on his own thoughts.  
He chuckled but he couldn't think of something he could say to her and then Clara took him by the hand and led him towards the buffet. They ate and drank and talked about unimportant things, like the music or the way people dressed. At one point Clara asked him to pick a favourite outfit and, not wanting to admit that he only had eyes for her, he pointed towards the waiter. It made her laugh. And then they kept going back and forth between the dance floor and the tables.  
For John it had been years but he could still tell that what he felt upon looking at her, upon hearing her laugh were butterflies in his stomach. It was too late for him. He had fallen for her. The most impossible woman out of everyone on this ship, the one he would never in a million years have a chance with.  
When he glanced at her John realized that Clara had been staring at him once again, and there was something in her gaze that he couldn't quite understand. But then again, he hadn't actually paid a lot of attention to his surroundings. Suddenly she reached for his hand again and John was sure that she would drag him back towards the stage for another dance although his feet were already feeling tired – instead she pulled him towards a corner behind a plant. Clara probably wanted to tell him something in private, or she was tired and ready to go back to her cabin. Yet when they came to a halt behind the plant Clara just stood there, looking at him, that expression on her face that was somewhere between nervous and excited.  
John was about to ask her when Clara leaned forward. His heart must surely have stopped for the short moment their lips touched and he was utterly lost for words when she smiled at him. An eternity seemed to pass before either of them said something.  
“Clara-”  
She stepped forward again, going up on tiptoes, just brushing their lips together. Not even a real kiss but enough to plunge his mind into chaos. He couldn't think. Not while Clara was doing that, not while she was standing in front of him, looking as gorgeous as she did, not while the swing music was suddenly so very, very loud. Then John did what he had sworn to himself he would never do and he couldn't even tell who had started it or how it had happened but all of a sudden Clara had her back to the wall and he was on top of her and they were kissing in earnest. Had he done that? It didn't matter. Her lips were too soft, too inviting and her tongue teased him so playfully. God, he had missed kissing a woman and he could immediately feel his better judgement deteriorate. With one had on her cheek and the other on her waist he pressed her closer against him, for the moment throwing all his good intentions over board. He never even stood a chance and he never wanted this feeling to end.  
Clara felt almost hot against him, even through their layers of clothing and he found his body responding way too soon when the heat started to rise up between his thighs, all the while praying that she wouldn't notice. John couldn't bring himself to pull away from her kiss, even if she did notice. In return Clara hooked her arms around him, her hand gently pulling at his hair and John moaned softly into her mouth. They needed to stop. Otherwise he might do something they would both regret. But how could he stop when everything about her just felt so damn good?

Suddenly Clara broke their kiss and the moment their lips parted she gasped for air. John looked at her and she seemed paler than she had before.  
“Are you alright?” he whispered, the sense slowly returning to him.  
“Bit woozy,” Clara panted in reply.  
John forced himself away from her even though he missed the touch of her body the moment it was gone and instead he reached for her hand.  
“Let's go outside and get some fresh air,” he suggested.  
Clara nodded weakly and allowed him to guide her outside.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you sooooooooooooooooooooo much for the comments *tackle hug for everyone*

Clara took a deep breath next to him once they were on deck, the music still hanging in the air, and John only now realized how hot it had been inside when the cool night air hit him. Clara still seemed to struggle even though the colour was slowly returning to her face.  
“What's wrong?” he asked her, trying not to sound too worried.  
“I'm fine,” Clara said and granted him a weak smile, “Bit more tired than I had realized. The champagne probably wasn't helping either.”  
“So it wasn't-”  
“Your kiss took my breath away,” Clara joked and nudged him gently before he watched her sink down on the nearest bench. John followed her example and Clara immediately lifted her legs over his thighs so her feet were dangling in the air.  
She groaned. “My feet are killing me,” Clara complained, resting her head against his shoulder.  
John was feeling it, too. Being up on his feet all day in Barcelona and the hours they had spent dancing together hadn't left him untouched. He loosened the straps on Clara's shoes, set them both down next to him and started massaging her feet. She let out a satisfied sigh.  
“That feels good,” she mumbled sleepily, adjusting the position of her head and nestling against the fabric of his jacket, “It was a lovely evening. Thank you.”  
“I had a great time, too. Sorry for being a little grumpy earlier,” John apologized sincerely, letting his thumbs wander over the bottom of her feet.  
Clara made a humming sound in reply and when John looked at her he noticed that she had already closed her eyes.  
“You can't sleep out here,” he told her, only now feeling the exhaustion creep up on him, too. It had been a long, long day, “It's too cold.”  
Clara didn't respond, her breathing slow and even and John realized she had already fallen asleep. With a smile he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead that finally made her stir.  
“Clara,” he whispered softly, “Where's your cabin? I'll get you to bed.”  
She mumbled something he didn't understand and then buried her face in his jacket. He calculated his chances. Clara was very small, he could probably carry her back to his own cabin – but then she would sleep in his bed and John wasn't sure that was such a good idea. Then again, she was already sleeping, he was tired and by morning the spell would have lifted.  
John hooked his fingers around the straps of her shoes before he lifted Clara up. She only made a small noise of protest at being moved before she closed her arms around his neck and leaned against his chest, letting him carry her away. He tried asking her about her cabin again on his way back but Clara didn't respond, so John had no choice but to head for his own. 

Once inside he gently laid her down on his bed, his arms grateful to be relieved of her weight. He should probably go to the gym more often but the soft smile on Clara's lips was worth the momentary pain. He dropped her shoes next to the bed and swiftly got rid of his own, his feet instantly feeling better without them. His jacket landed on his chair along with his belt before he bent over Clara once more to raise the duvet up to her chin, hoping she was comfortable enough. She certainly looked it.  
Under normal circumstances John would have chosen to sleep on the sofa but as it was the bed was the only other surface apart from the floor and he wasn't willing to risk a backache just out of chivalry, so he lay down next to her, careful to still keep some distance between them. However once John had settled on his back Clara rolled around once again, placing her arm tightly around him in her sleep and her right leg landed between his own. John swallowed when her knee brushed his crotch but he didn't dare to move. That would make it a lot harder for him to fall asleep.

* * *

When Clara woke up it took her a moment to put the pieces of the puzzle that was last night together but bit by bit it started to come back to her. She hadn't paid a lot of attention after she had started to drift off and Clara had no idea why John had taken her to his cabin and not her own but she had no intention to complain about that, not when she could snuggle up against him like this.  
They had kissed last night and the thought of it made her smile. Clara hadn't been able to resist after the wonderful evening they had spent together and so she had kissed him just to see what it was like, just out of plain curiosity. And then he had kissed her back. And now she knew that behind his gentlemanly manners he wanted her, a realisation that should have scared her but didn't. All it did was make her heart dance around wildly inside her chest. 

John was still sleeping next to her and for a moment Clara considered just going back to sleep as well but she soon found that her excitement wouldn't let her. She wanted to do something, to explore, so Clara carefully let her hand wander. Luckily he didn't stir when she caressed his chest, a cheeky grin spreading across her face when she felt that it was as toned as she had thought it would be. For a man in his 50s John definitely had a nice body, and he _definitely_ had nicer hair than any of the men she had ever dated. For a moment she wondered if she could go further, Clara was sure that last night he wouldn't have minded. But right now? There was only one way to find out.  
The moment her hand found his hardness Clara's heart leapt with joy as she estimated the size with her palm and instantly she felt the desire course through her body, something she hadn't felt in so long that it almost seemed strange to her. When she started to stroke him lightly through the fabric of his trousers John stirred beneath her and gave an almost inaudible moan. Clara knew all too well that he hadn't woken up properly and maybe he would get angry once he did but right now he was softly rocking against her palm, his erection growing under her touch and Clara had a hard time resisting the urge to just reach down between her own legs to tend to her arousal.  
Then John opened his eyes. “Clara-” he blurted out sleepily right before Clara pressed her lips on his and climbed on top of him. He moaned into her mouth when she started grinding against him, the thought of him so close to her sending chills down her spine. Then suddenly his hands found her shoulders and gently pushed her away from him, breaking their kiss.  
Clara looked down at him, trying not to seem too insecure about why he had stopped her. “What's wrong?”  
“This is,” he gave her a sad smile, “We shouldn't do that.”  
“Why not? You want to, I've felt it,” she reached down between them and cupped him through his trousers, the squeeze coaxing another moan from his throat and Clara could see on his face that he wanted nothing more than for her to continue.  
Suddenly John sat up, lifted Clara off of him and she landed back in her pillows before he turned around to look at her.  
“We have the annulment to think about,” he reminded her, “It would just make it unnecessarily complicated.”  
“The kiss last night-”  
“Was nice, really,” John finished her sentence, trying to avoid her gaze, “But we shouldn't let ourselves get carried away.”  
Now Clara sat up as well, the anger flaring up inside of her. She didn't understand what was happening and why John suddenly acted as if he hadn't wanted any of that. Surely the annulment couldn't be the only reason.  
“You carried me to bed, to your cabin,” she argued a little more loudly.  
“Yes, I did, because you refused to tell me where _your_ cabin was,” John spat back at her but quickly softened the tone of his voice, “I'm sorry, Clara, you're a lovely girl, but-”  
“ _Girl?_ ”  
So that was it. That was what he saw in her. Clara exhaled sharply before she jumped out of bed without further warning and darted outside, only stopping once the door behind her was closed. She had forgotten her shoes inside but that didn't matter now. She would be damned to crawl back to someone who didn't even view her as a proper adult.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the sweet comments. Yeah, I know, I know, I'm a tease. . . but admit it, you like it that way ;)

Clara slammed the cabin door shut behind her, making Amy shoot around instantly.  
“Okay, you seem angry,” her friend noted, “What happened?”  
Clara didn't reply at first, instead she made her way towards their wardrobe, looking for her sports bra. She needed to vent her anger somewhere. “Nothing happened. Well, a kiss happened. And then he said I was a nice _girl_.”  
Amy hissed behind her. “Ouch. And now?”  
Clara inhaled sharply. “Now I'll go and blow off some steam in the gym and forget about John. He's an idiot,” her clothes now in her hand Clara turned around to look at Amy, “What about you? Have you decided what you're going to do about Rory?”  
With a sigh Amy sank back down on her bed, shaking her head at Clara. “No. You're right, I love him and I have no doubt that he would take me back in a matter of seconds, but the old problem is still there. He wants kids, I can't give him any. The question is whether I'm going to be selfish or not.”  
Clara granted her the warmest smile she could come up with at this moment. “You don't have to decide right away. Can't really do much from here anyway. Now, do you want to come to the gym with me?”  
“Nah,” her friend shook her head, “I'm starving. I'm gonna check out the breakfast menu.”  
Clara shrugged. “Alright. If you meet John, kick him where it hurts.”

* * *

That had gone anything but well and John was fully aware of that. It hadn't been his intention to insult her, he hadn't even thought she would take it as an insult and now he was beginning to regret every word he had said to Clara. If he hadn't stopped her they would probably still be lying in bed and he would be happy, despite getting his heart broken at a later point.  
Feeling the need to clear his mind John grabbed his sports clothes and a towel and headed towards the gym. His arms still felt a little tired after carrying Clara back to the cabin last night, and he really needed to ban these thoughts from his mind, and so he decided to go for a run on the treadmill first. Unfortunately he could run as long as he wanted and he still wouldn't be able to run away from the terrible music they were playing through the gym's speakers – or his thoughts about Clara. So he decided to block them out and instead stare at the ocean ahead of him. Tomorrow they would land in Italy and somehow the prospect of visiting a new and beautiful country didn't appeal to him so much anymore. He wished he could have Barcelona all over again, just him and Clara, even though he knew that it was crazy. She was practically still a stranger and yet-  
Suddenly his treadmill stopped and when he looked down to see what the problem was he stared right into Clara's angry face.  
“Did you follow me here?”  
John frowned at her, for a moment not knowing what to say.  
“Or did you just happen to stroll into the gym when I had just settled on the bike on the other end of the room?”  
He looked around and sure enough there was a row of bikes that some people were using, then his eyes wandered back to Clara. He hadn't paid any attention to his surroundings at all, being so lost in his thoughts, so of course she would assume he had followed her.  
“I think this is just our rotten luck, always running into each other,” he spat back.  
“Well, I was here first,” Clara said, crossing her hands in front of her chest.  
John looked at her and considered his options. He wanted to apologize to her but not in front of everyone else and he wasn't so sure she would even listen to him but he had to at least try. Gently John grabbed her arm and started pulling her towards the door.  
“Hey, what do you think you're doing?” she protested but John had already dragged her out of the gym door. Unfortunately the corridor didn't provide the necessary privacy either.  
“I want to talk to you in private,” he said and opened the next door to see what was inside. Fortunately for them it was a hall that held another unused playground, this time indoor, and John shuffled the grumpy looking Clara inside.  
“I don't get what we need to talk about,” she complained as she sank down to sit on the edge of the ball pit, “You don't take me seriously, so why should I even talk to you?”  
John groaned as he took a seat next her. “Clara, who ever said I wasn't taking you seriously?”  
“You called me _girl_ ,” she glared at him, “And I get that. You're ancient. For you I must be a girl.”  
John opened his mouth to speak but for a moment he was lost for words. _Ancient?_ He was sure that Clara could come up with better insults than that and it still hurt his pride just a little.  
Suddenly one of the balls hit him across the chest and John noticed that Clara had picked a couple of the out of the ball pit before she threw another one at him.  
“Hey!” he complained loudly.  
“What?” Clara shrugged, throwing another one that he was able to dodge, “You think I'm a kid, so you won't mind me acting like one.”  
“Clara,” he reached out and took the last of the balls from her, “Stop it. I never said that you were a kid and I never said that I'm not taking you seriously. _Girl_ was probably not the right choice of words, but I never meant it like that.”  
Clara cocked her eyebrows at him and suddenly John started to laugh. “When I started medical school I lived in a tiny room in an old couple's house for the first few months. They were both over 60 and he only referred to his wife as his girl. He never used her name unless they were fighting. You see? It has nothing to do with age and I didn't mean to insult you with it.”  
Finally the frown lifted from her face. “What were you going to say to me?”  
John took a deep breath. This morning he had meant to say anything to stop her but now he wasn't so sure anymore. Just thinking about spending the day in Italy tomorrow without her made him change his mind.  
“I like you,” he confessed eventually, “And it's all very confusing and very complicated. We got married and we have to get an annulment as soon as we're back in England. And I'm afraid that if we-,” he paused, trying to find the right words.  
“Have sex?” Clara asked blatantly, looking at him as steadily as if she had asked him about having a cup of tea together.  
“Yes. I'm afraid that could complicate things even more. Legally and. . . between us.”  
“I get that,” she replied, “But I like you, too.”  
“Really?” John asked jokingly, “And you're still attacking me with balls?”

Before he could react Clara had leaned forward with all her weight and he was pushed straight into the pit. When he turned around he saw Clara standing over him, laughing. Then his mind came up with an idea and he distorted his face as if in pain, groaning while has hand wandered to his back.  
“Oh God, did I hurt you?” Clara asked, the laughter dying as she bent down to get a better look at him, “Are you okay?”  
“My back,” he growled and held out his hand, “Can you help me out?”  
As soon as he had a tight grip on her hand John used all his strength to pull and just a moment later Clara landed in the ball pit next to him, laughing and cursing at the same time.  
“I should've known,” she giggled, “You fiend!”  
John looked at her and couldn't contain his laughter upon seeing how insulted she looked about having fallen for the cheapest of tricks.  
“Yes, you find that funny. I was actually worried for a moment. Well, I know not to make that mistake ag-”  
He couldn't help himself. He simply couldn't. While Clara was lying next to him among the balls like that, laughing and complaining, his resistance simply crumbled away and he leaned forward, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer for a kiss. When she moved towards him they sank deeper into the balls and she laughed into his mouth, their lips never parting. But Clara had said that she liked him. Maybe there was a chance that this story would end without heartbreak.  
When they finally came up for air Clara was still smiling at him and John couldn't help but smile back at the beautiful woman lying in his arms.  
“So, all day on a cruise ship. What do you wanna do?” he asked.  
Clara considered it for a moment. “I don't know. I haven't really gotten around to get a look at everything they're offering.”  
John shrugged. “Me neither,” he admitted, “How about we do a bit of everything we see?”  
“Great idea,” Clara agreed before she bent down to kiss him again.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments :))))  
> Now, someone mentioned hopes for Amy and Rory?

Clara hooked her arm around John's so they could both fit under the umbrella. The rain was coming down in buckets, hiding the colourful city of Genoa behind a veil of grey and somehow she couldn't blame Amy at all for choosing to stay on board of the ship. If the weather had been her only reason.  
Suddenly the umbrella was gone and the rain pelted down on her hair. Clara let out a surprised shriek before she turned towards John, only to see that he was laughing before he covered her with the umbrella again.  
“What the hell was that for?” she nudged him, unable to decide whether she should be mad or laugh as well.  
“You seem a bit distracted today. Or is it the weather?” he asked her.  
Clara let out a heavy sigh. “It's Amy. She's still brooding in her cabin and I wish there was something I could do about that.”  
“She left her husband, right?” John inquired and it made Clara consider if she should just tell him the entire story. It should have felt wrong to talk to a stranger about her friend's marriage but this was John and she had trusted him with her story, so why not with this?  
“Amy left her husband, yes. But she still loves him and she just found out that he went on a date with somebody else. I don't think she was prepared for that to happen just yet.”  
“If she still loves him, why did she leave him?” John pointed towards a small café and Clara gave him a quick nod in agreement.  
The place was crowded with people who were obviously waiting for the rain to stop but Clara had given up hope that they would see the sun today. They found a small table in the corner and ordered a coffee before she started telling John about Amy.  
“They both want children and Amy recently found out that she can't have any. They argued a lot, even though her husband kept saying that it was okay and that they could adopt. Amy left him because she thought he would be better off without her, that he could have children with someone else.”  
“ _What?!_ ” John blurted out and Clara could see on his face that he was shocked. He snorted. “I'm sorry, but that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard. Did he know of her reasons?”  
Clara shook her head.  
“Didn't think so. No man would let his wife go for a reason like that if he still loves her. Finding the right person once is hard enough, finding love twice is just plain luck. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about,” John said and lifted his coffee mug to his lips.  
Something about the way he said it made Clara's stomach twinge but that wasn't the time to be thinking about them, not while they were discussing Amy.  
“I wish I could just call Rory and tell him. I know that he would take her back and I know that it would make Amy happy, but-”  
“Why don't you? Call him, I mean,” John suggested.  
Clara raised her eyebrows at him. “I can't just meddle with someone else's love life, even if it's my friend.”  
He shrugged. “My sister sent me on a singles' cruise, unprepared, and look how that worked out for me.”  
John granted her a smile and Clara wasn't quite sure whether they were an actual positive example of meddling or not.  
“If I were him I'd be happy about that kind of meddling,” John told her and at the same time shoved his phone to her side of the table, “Call him if you think it would make your friend happy, too.”  
Clara bit down on her lip, eyeing the device next to her hand. With her decision made she finally looked up at him. “Can I borrow your umbrella, too?”

* * *

Despite the umbrella they were both drenched at the end of the day after having run all the way from the restaurant to the ship in the biggest downpour Clara had ever seen. She had lived in England all her life but she had never seen anything like that before.  
“Oh God,” she exhaled once they had reached the ship, “I'm so cold!”  
John chuckled. “I'd offer you my jacket, but-”  
There was no need to finish the sentence as his clothes were dripping on the floor just like her own. Clara wrinkled her nose at the sight. “You can keep it, thanks.”  
“So, do you want to get a hot chocolate in the cafeteria or check out the swimming pool area? I think they might have a hot whirlpool, too.”  
Clara instantly felt a lot warmer at just the thought of sitting down in a hot tub. “I want to check on Amy first and I need to get my bikini anyway. Meet you at the swimming pool in half an hour?”  
She was about to turn around and walk away when suddenly John reached for her hand and pulled her back, but he didn't just stop at that. Instead he bent down and surprised her with a kiss on the lips.  
Clara giggled when they pulled apart. “Bold move, mister.”  
“What?” he chuckled in reply, shrugging, “Just kissing my wife.”  
She raised her index finger as a warning, still laughing as she walked backwards. “Don't push it, husband,” she teased.

Clara had half expected to find Amy still lying in bed with her book but to her great surprise her friend was standing in front of the bathroom mirror when she came back into their cabin and she seemed all dressed up for a night out.  
“What's going on with you?” Clara asked curiously.  
“I am done sulking,” Amy replied determinedly, finishing her eyeliner, “I'm going out tonight.”  
Clara swallowed hard. Amy didn't know that she had spoken to Rory earlier, that she had told him everything. And also Amy's plans seemed to be colliding with her own.  
“I wanted to go swimming with John but if you want to I can cancel on him and we can go out together,” she suggested, sort of hoping her friend would turn down the offer. She didn't feel like going out, at least not without John.  
“That's sweet of you but it's alright. Go with John. I'll find someone,” Amy had finished her make-up and turned around so Clara could get a proper look at her. Yep. In that outfit she would definitely find someone.  
“Are you sure?” Clara inquired, not quite convinced she should leave her friend alone. Amy might end up doing something she would later regret.  
“Yes. Don't worry about me,” she sighed, “I just need a bit of attention. Male attention. Have them look at me, buy me drinks, boost my ego. I'll be fine.”  
“If you say so,” Clara mumbled as she watched Amy head out of the door. She was a grown woman, she wouldn't get into too much trouble. Hopefully. So instead of worrying Clara decided to finally get rid of her wet clothes and put on her bikini.

 

John was already waiting for her in front of the swimming pool area and when Clara approached him he wore an apologetic look on his face.  
“I'm afraid we're too late for today,” he said, nodding towards a sign on the door.

**Indoor Pool Area Closed From 9 PM until 10 AM**  
_The indoor pool area remains closed for your own security during these hours because a lifeguard can't be present at all times. Please visit the outdoor swimming pool area that is open from 8 AM to 1 AM. Thank you._

“It's five minutes past nine. It's probably locked,” John said but nevertheless tried the door handle. To their surprise the door opened. Clara looked at him expectantly.  
“We probably shouldn't,” he said.  
“Probably, yeah,” Clara agreed, a mischievous grin on her face, “But it's not locked. And it's not like we're going to drown in the shallow whirlpool.”  
They both started to giggle right before John opened the door fully and they quickly vanished inside before anyone had a chance to see them.  
Clara instantly headed for the whirlpool, dropped her bathrobe on the nearby bench and jumped inside.  
“Ohhhh, this is so good,” she said happily as the warm water engulfed her, “Come on, it's warm, what are you waiting for?”  
For a moment John remained standing awkwardly next to the tub, seemingly unsure of whether he should actually join her or not. Clara, noticing his reluctance, swiftly turned around in the tub and faced the other direction.  
Finally she saw his robe land on top of her own out of the corner of her eye and a few moments later she felt the water move around her. She turned back around, smiling at him  
“You were right,” he agreed, “It is good.”  
Clara gave him her warmest smile. “There's no need to be shy, it's just-”  
Her sentence was cut short when suddenly the door opened and she only had time to take a deep breath before John pushed her head under the water, diving down with her. Someone had come in and unless the bubbles of the whirlpool shielded them properly they would be caught without a doubt. It wasn't long until she felt the lack of air sting in her lungs and she had to come back up, John following her only moments later.  
Clara gasped for air and looked around but there was no one to be seen. Then the lock on the front door clicked and her head shot around to John.  
“Well, that's not good.”  
Clara sighed. “Seems we're locked in for now.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments :) Let's see if this works out as you guys hoped.

For a moment John forgot about his shyness and jumped out of the whirlpool, running towards the door to see if it really was locked. He tried a couple of times but always with the same result – they truly were locked in.  
“Is there any other exit?” Clara asked behind him, causing John to turn around and look at her. He had been so worried about her seeing him only in his swimming trunks, worried that she would laugh about his tummy or his wiry arms or his pale, Scottish skin that hadn't seen sunshine in years but right now that seemed to be the least of their problems.  
John walked past the whirlpool and swimming pool into the wellness area in the back. He found two vending machines, one for snacks and one for drinks, so at least they wouldn't starve trapped in here, but no door. Once he had come to a halt next to the whirlpool the lights went off, all but a few, leaving them in semi-darkness.  
“Mh,” Clara uttered without enthusiasm, looking around, “That's. . . cosy. Well, I guess we'll just have to make the best out of it.”  
“Shouldn't we knock on the door and call for help?” John asked warily. There were worse places to be trapped in over night, that was for sure, but he still wanted to at least try to get out.  
“And get caught?” Clara raised her eyebrows, “I'm not keen on trouble.”  
“We started the trouble when we went in here past the opening hours.”  
Clara exhaled audibly. “Technically it was their fault for not locking the swimming pool right away and not checking properly.”  
“Doesn't change the fact that we either have to stay here until they unlock the door tomorrow morning or call for help and accept that we're going to get in trouble.”  
She looked at him for a long moment, all of a sudden making him feel self-conscious again, then her features began to soften and she started to smile.  
“Come back into the whirlpool,” Clara said and made a waving gesture with her hand.  
John wasn't quite sure how to react but seeing as they still hadn't settled their discussion about what to do next he might as well enjoy the warmth of the large tub until they had. As soon as he had found a comfortable position Clara's smile grew wider.  
“Admit it, this is kind of exciting,” she grinned at him, “Out of all the people on this cruise we're the only ones in here. We can do whatever we like. Stay in the whirlpool, swim, use the slide without anyone else bothering us.”  
John glared at her even though a part of him wanted to agree on the spot. Even stepping inside past the opening hours had been exciting and the idea of spending the whole night alone here with Clara seemed lovely, romantic even, if a little dangerous. He liked her too much, he was too attracted to her and if she pushed it John wasn't sure that he could resist. It would only complicate their annulment. But her smile also made it hard for him to say no.  
“Well, there are vending machines in the back if we get hungry,” John found himself saying, “And also some very comfortable looking chairs.”  
Clara bit down on her lip, smiling. “Wanna go for a swim?”  
“Thought you'd never ask,” he replied, holding out his hand to Clara to help her out of the whirlpool.

The swimming pool water was a lot colder compared to the warm tub but after a few moments John was beginning to get used to it. Clara was floating on her back next to him, only using her feet to propel herself forward and she wore a serene expression on her face.  
“The little lamps up there almost look like stars,” she noted after a while, making him look up. He couldn't help but agree.  
Suddenly Clara came to a halt next to him and he found her staring. “You seem a little far away. Is everything alright?” she asked him sincerely, “If you want to, we can knock on the door and call for help. Or are you afraid of being caught?”  
John sighed as he stopped at the edge of the pool, holding on to it even though he could stand in this part of the water. “It's not that,” he told her.  
Clara struggled to stand, being smaller than him, and had to keep a tight grip on the edge while she eyed him suspiciously. “Then what is it?”  
He couldn't tell her. John looked at her and he just couldn't tell her, not about all those doubts and fears floating through his mind, not about all the what ifs and do nots. When he had found out about the singles' cruise he would never have thought he'd even find a woman he liked, never had he expected to find one he wanted to be with so, so much in a situation as complicated and messy as this one was.  
“John?”  
When Clara looked at him with her big eyes he decided that for this moment it didn't matter. Just like it hadn't mattered the night at the party or in the ball pit or earlier on the corridor when he just hadn't wanted to resist. He pulled her closer against his body and Clara eagerly bent forward to kiss him as if she had only been waiting for a sign. While she wrapped her legs around his waist John leaned back against the wall of the pool, holding on for the two of them with one hand and kissed her back. He had no idea how she did it but there was a sweetness to her tongue that he just couldn't resist, so he let go of the edge and instead closed his arms around her back, kissing her until they both ran out of breath and kissing away all of his doubts and better judgement.  
Eventually Clara came up for air, smiling at him. “Wanna go somewhere warmer?”  
John ignored her question and pulled her down for another kiss just so he wouldn't have to think about what they were doing. If he slept with her, which was something he wanted so badly, it could complicate their annulment, it could make him not want to go through with that. And yet he couldn't remember the last time he had liked a woman so much. Maybe it could work? Even while John was kissing her he was still torn.  
Clara giggled as they parted lips, she had no idea just what turmoil was going on inside his mind. “It's gonna get a little cold if we don't move.”

Suddenly her legs were gone from around him and Clara was pushing herself out of the water, grinning at John once she towered over him.  
“Come on,” she waved, “What are you waiting for?”  
With a sigh John followed her out of the swimming pool and back to their bathrobes that they had discarded on a bench earlier.  
“We need to get out of our wet clothes.”  
His eyes widened at the prospect of that.  
Clara simply gave him a shrug. “I don't want to catch a cold. Do you?”  
Before he could even react Clara had unclasped her bikini bra and bent down to strip out of her bottoms as well and John gulped audibly as she came to stand in front of him completely naked.  
“What are you waiting for?” Clara asked and he didn't miss that hint of a smile on her face when she did.  
“I, uhm,” he spluttered, “I, I think you should put something on. . . instead.”  
Now Clara smiled in earnest as she stepped closer and John almost flinched when she hooked her fingers under the waistband of his swimming trunks.  
“No, I really think you should take these off,” she almost whispered and gave him a moment to protest before she pulled them down. John swallowed as the fabric scraped over his skin and he was left standing in front of her naked and half hard. Now she would surely laugh at his belly or his his pale, Scottish skin. But nothing happened. Nothing except Clara looking at him, still smiling.  
“I want you,” she whispered in a low, dreamy voice, her hand wandering to his chest and slowly sliding down.  
His heart was beating so fast John thought it might jump out of his chest at any given moment and her touch and her words were pumping even more blood away from his brain.  
“We shouldn't,” he managed to say eventually just when her hand had reached the base of his shaft. A thrill shot through his body.  
“I want you,” Clara repeated more determinedly now, “I know it's complicated, I know we need to get an annulment but I still want you. I think this, being locked in here, it's a sign for us.”  
Clara wrapped her hand around his length and gave him a couple of light strokes, her touch so sweet that instinctively he leaned forward, rocking into her palm. John closed his eyes and uttered a low moan. He wanted it, wanted her, so why did everything have to be such a mess?  
When her hand suddenly left him and instead he felt her naked body against his own and her lips on his again John decided that it didn't matter. Not right now. Then the lock on the door clicked again.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your many, impatient comments :) I'm sorry for this teasing but tomorrow I have a treat for you, I promise ;)

The man who interrupted them seemed just as embarrassed as they were and Clara almost jumped to cover herself with her bathrobe. John did the same thing, avoiding to look at anyone and just standing awkwardly next to her. Clara was sure that by now she was blushing mercilessly.  
“I'm sorry,” the young man wearing the ship's uniform stared at a point in the room somewhere behind them, but never looked them in the eyes, “You can't be here. The pool area is closed.”  
“Sorry,” Clara mumbled sheepishly, “We were locked in.”  
She conveniently left out the part in which they had sneaked into the pool area after closing time, hoping that would keep them out of further trouble. And her plan seemed to be working.  
“We, erm, we saw you on the security camera footage. So, no worries, you wouldn't have been locked in all night,” the man granted them a shy smile, “But I'll have to ask you to leave now.”  
John cleared his throat, closing his bathrobe a little tighter around him. “Good. That's good. Clara?”  
She looked up at him and finally nodded before they followed the employee outside where he explained to them both that they were welcome to use the outdoor swimming pool until it closed. Eventually he left them alone on the corridor, probably still flustered about the situation he had found them in and Clara looked up at John, trying not to think about who, except for the employee that had come to the swimming pool, had seen them on the security camera monitors.  
“So, wanna go to the outdoor pool or to your cabin?”  
The expression on his face told her everything she needed to know before he had even said a word and Clara had almost groaned in annoyance. She had feelings for him, she wanted him and he probably felt the same way, too, but as she looked at him right now Clara realized that obviously his doubts had resurfaced.  
“I think I should go to my cabin and you should go to yours,” he explained carefully.  
“But earlier-”  
“Earlier,” John cut her off, “You said something about a sign, us being locked in together. Well, I think the interruption was a sign, too.”  
Clara snorted. “You think? I think it was just our rotten luck.”  
“Clara, please. I need to think,” he inhaled sharply and sounded just a little desperate, “I. . . I don't know.”  
Eventually Clara nodded, realizing that John was probably feeling a lot more confused than she was. There was no use pushing him, especially since she didn't even fully understand where her feelings for him had come from in just a week.  
So instead of arguing about it further Clara went up on tiptoes and brushed their lips together for a short kiss.  
“Alright,” she said with a smile, knowing that they would still be on this cruise for another week. They had all the time in the world, “See you tomorrow at breakfast?”  
John nodded, his face lighting up. “Yes. Good night, Clara Oswald.”  
“I'll be dreaming about you,” she said teasingly as she turned around and headed back to her cabin.

After she had showered off the smell of the chlorine Clara curled up in bed with one of the books she had brought on this cruise, deciding to read for another half hour before going to sleep. Tomorrow would be another day on the ship before they arrived in Naples during the night. They would have fun together, sightseeing through another city. With or without the rest of the group.  
Clara only realized that she had been reading a lot longer than intended when the cabin door opened at 1 am and Amy stepped inside, the surprise at finding Clara awake written on her face.  
“I didn't think you'd be here. Or awake. Or both,” Amy blurted out, “Did something happen?”  
Clara shrugged before she couldn't help but chuckle. “John and I were caught making out by the swimming pool. Naked. Your evening?”  
Laughing, Amy sat down on their bed and demanded to hear the entire story, which Clara told her with delight.  
“So, he's still being shy?” her friend asked, kicking off her shoes and blazer.  
Clara nodded gravely. “But he'll come around. And you have to admit, the whole situation is kinda weird. With us being married and getting an annulment. So I can understand it, a bit.”  
Amy giggled. “Maybe he's scared that he will fall in love with you only to have your marriage annulled in England.”  
She snorted at the suggestion. No, John wouldn't think like that. And even if, they could still continue to see each other after the cruise. Or couldn't they? What if this cruise was something like a Las Vegas to him? What happens on the ship stays on the ship? Clara hadn't considered that option, the option that maybe he wouldn't want to continue seeing her. Did _she_ want to continue to see him? Clara hadn't thought about that either and suddenly it dawned on her that maybe there was more to his reluctance than she had initially thought. And then her mind wandered back to Danny, a wave of sorrow washing over her when she realized she hadn't thought about him at all. Was she ready for something new that went beyond this singles' cruise?  
“Anyway, _my_ evening was great.” Amy tore her out of her thoughts, smiling genuinely, “I've met someone.”  
Clara's eyes widened in surprise. And shock. Because Amy still had no idea that she had spoken to Rory.  
“His name is Ben, he just turned 30 and he's from Exeter, works at the university. He bought me a drink and he's really cute,” she announced proudly.  
“So, you're gonna see him again?” Clara asked carefully.  
Amy grinned back at her. And nodded. “That's why I wanted to ask you if you could crash in John's cabin tomorrow night. Just in case, you know.”  
Her friend winked at her and Clara's heart sank a little. Not that she wasn't happy about Amy feeling a little better but because she had no idea what was waiting for her after the cruise. But instead of saying anything Clara just smiled back.  
“Of course,” she said, “Of course I can.”

* * *

John was staring up at the ceiling of his cabin, knowing full well he was acting like a complete idiot. Again. He wanted Clara, Clara wanted him. It could be as simple as that if he just let it happen and forgot about his doubts for a moment. He shouldn't be thinking about whether Clara was ready for something new, whether he would fall just a little too much in love. They were singles on a singles' cruise, so he made a decision.

Tomorrow John would stop being a coward.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments :D I hope this one makes you happy!

Clara was more than a little surprised when she found John waiting by the breakfast buffet, holding up a large box of chocolates and wearing a shy, almost apologetic smile on his face.  
“What is the meaning of this?” she giggled as she approached him and was immediately handed the box of sweets.  
“They don't sell flowers here on this ship, so I went for the alternative,” John said, clearing his throat a little awkwardly while shuffling his feet, “I've realized that I acted like a bit of an idiot on several occasions, including last night.”  
Clara gave him a small shrug. “Well, I can't argue with that. Not a big idiot, but. . . an idiot.”  
“You deserve more than that,” John told her earnestly, “That's why I wanted to ask you out on a date.”  
“A date?” she started to laugh again, “We're married, don't you think it's a bit late for that?”  
He let out a groan and rolled his eyes impatiently. “I'm trying to do things properly here. I like you, you said you like me. I want to take you out on a proper date to see. . . I don't know, see where it goes.”  
Finally Clara granted him a smile. “Okay,” she agreed, “Take me out on a date. But can we have breakfast first? I'm starving.”  
His face lit up instantly. Together they went on to the buffet, John asked her about Amy and Clara enlightened him that she was still applying her make-up, making too much of an effort for a guy she had only met last night. Clara still wasn't thrilled about that but since it seemed to make her friend happy she decided to tolerate it for the moment.  
“Uhm, by the way,” Clara began as they sat down at the table, “Amy asked if I could spend the night in your cabin. She wants some privacy.”  
John almost chocked on his coffee.  
“Is that okay?” she asked him.  
“Yes,” he replied hesitantly, “Yes, that's, erm, that's fine.”  
“So,” Clara stuffed a fresh strawberry into her mouth, “What is your plan for that date?”  
“Well, they're showing a movie at the cinema at around noon that sounds really nice and tonight, after dinner, they play Carmen at the concert hall. In between we could either relax or check out that Blacklight Mini Golf place. Simply cause I can't imagine what the difference between that and normal mini golf is.”  
Clara giggled. “It _is_ like normal mini golf, just in the dark and illuminated with black light. Some of the kids from my class went there last summer and, _wow_ , I can't believe this is my first time thinking about work since we boarded this ship.”  
John stared at her, seeming a little shocked. “I haven't actually thought about work either,” he blurted out, “What if something happened and they couldn't reach me?”  
“See, we're good for each other. I make you forget you're a workaholic and you,” she paused, the smile fading from her face just a little, “You make me forget about all the other things that usually drag me down.”  
“You mean your boyfriend?” John inquired.  
Clara took a deep breath. “My former boyfriend,” she corrected him, smiling again, and for the first time it felt good to make another step towards letting Danny go, “I'm really looking forward to our date day.”  
“So do I,” John confirmed with a smile.

 

It came as no surprise to her when they found themselves alone in the cinema room a few hours later. It was midday, no one wanted to see a disgustingly romantic movie at this hour and so they took their seats in the last row at the back with a large bag of popcorn and a cup of coke.  
“Are you into this sort of movie?” Clara asked him, stuffing some of the popcorn into her mouth. Somehow she couldn't really imagine John watching chick flicks at home.  
“I'm not really into any sort of movie. Hardly watched any in the past 15 years,” he replied and reached into the bag of popcorn.  
Two more people, apparently another couple, walked inside and took their seats several rows in front of them and Clara leaned back in her seat when the room went dark. It was different to normal cinemas, here they didn't show any adverts but went straight to the movie. The one that was beginning to bore her to death 20 minutes in, yet she was too polite to share her feelings about that with John since he had truly made an effort. Instead she leaned against his shoulder and placed her hand on his thigh. In return he wrapped his arm around her.  
“This is quite nice,” she whispered.  
“Yes,” he confirmed, “It really is.”  
Clara closed her eyes and decided to just enjoy the moment in John's arms. The scent surrounding her was wonderful, the fresh popcorn, the smell of him and his aftershave. She inhaled it deeply and started stroking the inside of his thigh, trying to pay some more attention to the movie from now on.  
She was sure that not even five minutes had passed until John cleared his throat. “Uhm, Clara?”  
“Mh?” she looked up at him, barely able to see his face in the darkness.  
“Your hand,” he told her in a low voice that suddenly sounded slightly weird, “You, erm, you might wanna stop doing that.”  
It was the awkwardness with which he said it that made her realize just exactly what he was talking about but it also sparked an idea inside of her. Clara let her hand wander upwards and she soon found him beneath the fabric of his jeans, the proof that her touch had already had an impact on him. She squeezed him through his trousers.  
“How about I don't stop?” she whispered teasingly.  
John shifted nervously in his seat before he leaned a little closer. “You can't. We're in a public place. There are other people here.”  
This time she squeezed him harder, causing him to utter a low _mhpf_.  
“You just have to be quiet,” she told him as she continued to massage him through the fabric that was beginning to strain more and more, “No one will know.”  
She watched him close his eyes and lean back in his seat, the confusion and arousal both so plain on his face even in the darkness and Clara made the decision to open the button of his jeans, followed by the zip. As she dipped her hand in however John's hand found her wrist, stopping her.  
“Clara, this really isn't the place and t-”, he stopped abruptly when her hand found a way past his barrier and her fingers grazed his skin. Clara felt the excitement rush through her when she estimated his size with her hand again and ran it along his shaft. John instantly ceased to protest, leaned back again and let her carry on.  
He was smooth and heavy in her hand and quickly growing harder as she started to stroke him and Clara couldn't help but think about how wonderful he might feel inside of her, the pure idea of it sending jolts of pleasure through her body. But John was right. It really wasn't the time and place for _that_.  
She wrapped her fist around his erection and ran her thumb over the tip, spreading his precum all over and causing him to utter the tiniest noise of arousal. John's lips were parted now and she could hear his breathing become faster as he started to thrust up into her palm just a little, probably without even noticing it.  
“Oh Clara,” he breathed, his face lined in a frown and his focus entirely on her, “Too tight.”  
She had noticed it, of course, and she decide to help him by pulling down his jeans and underpants just enough to expose him and Clara wished she could see him properly, but John had sunk into the shadows thrown by the seats in front of them. With a swift look ahead she realized that the people further at the front of the room probably had no clue what was going on behind them.  
He was fully erect now and deeply aroused, Clara could feel it under her palm as she continued to stroke his member, gripping him harder now and he was thrusting up shamelessly to meet her. His panting was audible, but apart from that he made no other sound and Clara decided to tease him just a little more.  
“God, you're so big,” she breathed into his ear, “I can't wait to feel you inside me.”  
She brushed his tip again, circling it with her palm at which John pressed his lips together and the moan died out in his throat. Clara bent forward and nipped at his earlobe.  
“If we were alone I'd climb right on top of you. Makes me wet just thinking about it.”  
She had barely finished her sentence when John bent over and crushed their lips together, whimpering into her mouth as she kept a tight grip on his cock. He was moving against her almost desperately now and Clara knew she had him right where she wanted him. Biting down on his lip she could feel his breath hot on her skin.  
“Stop,” he whispered hoarsely.  
Clara chuckled. “I haven't even started,” she replied and wrapped her first around him again, letting him thrust inside it. Maybe he did want to stop, but he certainly didn't have the will to do it.  
“Clara,” he panted, unable to hold it back now, “I'm coming. It's gonna-” another moan, “Make a mess.”  
Quickly she bent down to wrap her mouth around him, a sensation he obviously hadn't expected to experience at this moment and she almost chocked when he pushed inside of her with almost his entire length. She regained her posture quickly and started sucking him hard.  
“Fuck, Clara,” he muttered under his breath and his fingers curled into her hair, “I-”  
The words died at the back of his throat and she could feel his body growing tense beneath her right before he came into her mouth and John sank back into his seat while he allowed her to lick him clean.  
When Clara came back up to look at him his eyes were still closed and he was panting heavily.  
“That wasn't nice of you,” he breathed, “That was very, very naughty.”  
“Well, I _am_ naughty”, she shrugged even though he couldn't see it.  
Suddenly he turned around to look at her, his gaze somewhere between grateful and utterly satisfied, before he leaned forward and kissed her again.  
“Next time,” he panted when their lips parted, “Let's not do that in a public place.”  
Clara chuckled in agreement. “Okay.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe, you liked that, didn't you? :D  
> Thank you for the comments!!!

John hadn't been able to stop thinking about her all day. Not while they had played mini golf, and certainly not while she had been sitting next to him at the opera, wearing that red dress and looking so utterly beautiful that he could hardly take his eyes off her. He had tried so hard to concentrate on Carmen and yet his thoughts had kept wandering back to Clara, back to kissing her, back to taking her to his cabin and making love to her. It almost made him feel like a teenager again, obsessed with the thought of sex and the woman who had completely turned his head. Oh, this wasn't going to end well for him. Clara was going to break his heart.

Their lips seemed inseparable as soon as the cabin door closed behind them and John pressed her against it with the weight of his body, hands on her waist to keep her right there. Clara didn't complain, of course she didn't. She had started this earlier at the cinema and now he didn't want the feeling of her against him to ever stop. Clara was kissing him eagerly, her finger buried in his hair and tugging at it just a little when she finally broke away, gasping for air.  
“Wow, someone's changed their mind,” she giggled breathlessly.  
John cocked an eyebrow at her, his hand wandering down her leg and back up under her skirt. “Are you complaining?” he asked.  
Clara gave him a mischievous smile. “Only if you stop now.”  
John bent back down, bringing his lips to her neck and he felt Clara shudder beneath him when his hand found her knickers and started teasing her through the fabric. Her breath was fast and heavy and the sound of it made his blood rush south. To have this beautiful, young woman want him seemed almost too good to be true. A whimper came from her throat when his finger found its way past her knickers and between her folds, rubbing along her wet clit and John could feel his own desire rise and beginning to strain against the fabric of his trousers. Just the thought of diving into her wetness fuelled his arousal, yet he craved her touch, craved the feeling of his hand or mouth or anything on his cock that was throbbing with desire.  
Clara gasped when his fingers entered her and she tightened her muscles around them, his mind already imagining what it would feel like to have her do just that around his shaft. Oh, he wanted her so, so much. To suppress a growl he bent down and sank his teeth gently into the spot where her neck and shoulders met. As if Clara had read his thoughts her hand palmed him through his trousers and John rocked his hips forwards, rubbing shamelessly against her touch.  
“Take me. Now,” Clara panted before her teeth scraped his ear, “Please.”  
John withdrew his hand from her and his hands reached for the hemline of her dress before he stopped and smiled at her. “Beautiful dress,” he commented because it was true, “Almost a shame to take it off.”  
“Don't talk, just do it,” she ordered him and a few seconds later John finally relieved her of her dress. His jacket, shirt and trousers soon followed before they stumbled in the direction of his bed and it was there that it dawned on him. The realisation that he had forgotten about something. Clara was about to straddle his lap when he held her back.  
“What?” she asked, sounding slightly panicked, “What's wrong?”  
“I, erm,” he gulped, “I'm afraid I forgot to buy the condoms.”  
“There are some in the drawer. Provided by the cruise,” Clara bent down to kiss him again but he stopped her inches before their lips touched.  
“Yes, but-” he broke off, not sure how he could tell her.  
“But _what_?”  
“They're, uhm, they're regular sized.”  
It took Clara a moment to realize just what he had told her but then her eyes lit up with what he could only describe as excitement. “Well, good thing I'm on birth control then.”  
She pulled down his underpants before he could say anything else and a wide grin spread over her face. John tried very hard not to feel too proud but he just couldn't help enjoying how her reaction boosted his ego.  
“Definitely not regular sized,” Clara bent down and let her tongue glide along his erection, coaxing a moan from his throat before she looked back up again, “You better be good at using it.”  
He couldn't wait any longer. John unclasped her bra and turned Clara over in a swift movement. His mouth went to her breasts, sucking her nipple and flicking his tongue around it which caused her to moan in earnest and her fingers were back in his hair, guiding it down to where he was most desperate to go. Pulling down her knickers, he licked across her sex, noticing with delight just how wet she was and how her hips moved to meet his touch. John also became increasingly aware of his own pulsing desire and so he climbed back up to face her, pressing a long, wet kiss on her lips.  
Clara reached for him with her hand and gave him a couple of strokes at which John close his eyes. He needed her so desperately now and luckily Clara's hand guided him right to her entrance. He felt her already, so warm and inviting that he couldn't help but groan when he finally entered her. She gasped beneath him and John was about to ask her if she was okay when her leg wrapped around his arse and Clara started guiding him.  
They moved slowly at first, testing, adjusting, finding their rhythm and she felt too good, too tight around him. He just kept wanting more. Clara moaned beneath him when he buried himself deeper and he could feel her trying to turn them over to be on top. John decided to let her.  
As soon as they had rolled over she straddled his lap, sinking back down on him. John let out a groan and his head fell back into the pillows.  
“God, Clara, you feel so good,” he whimpered, extending his hands. One landed on her hip to guide her, the other found her clit again, circling it with his thumb. He was too close already and he was determined to take her over the edge with him.  
Clara increased her pace, every time he sank into her feeling a little better and sweeter. His finger dug deep into the flesh of her hips.  
“So do you,” Clara panted, followed by another moan as she drove herself down harder. He increased the pressure on her clit, causing her to gasp. “Yeah, right there.”  
She clenched her muscles around him, sending a jolt of pleasure right to his core and John thrust up harder, meeting her halfway. Their pace was becoming more frantic, their rhythm getting lost as they rocked together and John could feel that he wasn't going to last much longer. Every time he drove inside of her just brought him closer.  
“Clara,” he panted, clasping at her hips and pressing his eyes shut, “I'm so sorry, I-”  
“No, no,” she breathed, bending forward just a little, supporting herself with her hands on his chest, “I'm so close.”  
Her breath was becoming faster as he thrust up once, twice more until he felt it, her walls tightening, fluttering around him and she whimpered on top of him and shortly after he could feel his own orgasm crashing down on him, shooting through his body as he spent himself inside of her.  
Clara collapsed in the pillows next to him while John was still panting, his mind utterly blank except for a feeling of pure bliss and his body unable to move. He wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep with Clara in his arms.  
She inhaled deeply as she came to rest on his chest and John wrapped her up in a tight embrace.  
“Thank you,” he uttered, still breathless, and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.  
Clara giggled. “Polite, aren't you?” she teased him and before she could ruin this moment any more with talking he bent down and kissed her properly.

* * *

Clara woke up when something tickled her ear and she soon realized that something was John and the tickling sensation were his kisses. She smiled to herself.  
“Good morning, husband,” she giggled teasingly, “Sleep well?”  
“Extremely well, _wife_. And you?”  
Clara wrapped her arms tighter around his chest, enjoying his warmth and his scent that she breathed in. This was wonderful, _he_ was wonderful.  
“Perfect,” she sighed and felt him leave a kiss on her hair.  
“Do you want to go to breakfast or-” he hesitated a little, “Stay in bed a while longer?”  
She looked up, craning her neck so she could get a proper look at the clock. 10 am.  
“I should go and check on Amy. I need different clothes for breakfast anyway. Not keen on extending the walk of shame to the dining area in my evening dress.”  
“Right,” John replied and sounded more than just a little disappointed.  
Clara turned around to smile at him. “But I'm hoping we'll go straight back to bed after Naples today?”  
His face lit up instantly and John bent down to kiss her softly as they both sank back into the pillows, arms wrapped around each other in a tight embrace. If she could, Clara would choose to stay like this forever. Luckily they still had the rest of the cruise left, the no man's land that came after could wait.  
“I had a great day yesterday,” Clara whispered when their lips parted, “All of it. Especially the night, but the rest was wonderful, too.”  
There was a hint of sadness in his eyes even though he smiled. “My thoughts exactly,” John replied.  
For a moment Clara considered suggestion something crazy, something so utterly insane that she almost laughed about it herself. What if they didn't go through with the annulment? They were getting along so well, inside and outside the bedroom and right now it seemed as if they were throwing away a perfectly good chance at something that might work out so well. But it was crazy and she knew it. John didn't want to be married to her. They needed to get the annulment. And no one said they couldn't continue seeing each other after that. Unless that wasn't what he wanted.  
“I'm gonna go and see how Amy's evening went,” Clara scrambled into a sitting position and bent down to give him a peck on the lips, “See you at breakfast?”  
“See you at breakfast,” John confirmed with a smile.

 

Even though Clara knocked very carefully and hesitated before entering their shared cabin in case she still had Ben over, Clara found her friend sitting on her bed alone, her phone in her hand.  
“Hey,” Clara said hesitantly, “How did it go?”  
Amy granted her a smile. “Not at all. Ben was nice, we talked, we kissed and then I realized I wasn't ready.”  
“Oh.”  
“It's okay,” she reassured her, “I'm fine with that. I briefly considered calling Rory but that's not gonna help me get over him either. I guess I'll just need a little more time.”  
Clara walked up to her and sank down on the bed next to Amy, placing her arm around her friend's shoulder. “What if you did call him?” she suggested.  
“Maybe,” Amy sighed, “But not now. It can wait until after the cruise. What about you and John?”  
Clara smiled and started telling her friend everything about the previous day. Together they laughed and joked and Clara was glad that Amy was beginning to lighten up. And once they got back to England Amy would also find a surprise that would probably make her very happy.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments :) And welcome to the hangar!

The days flew by too quickly. Much too quickly. John thoroughly enjoyed the sightseeing in Naples, lending Clara his jacket during their walk through the catacombs before they joined Amy for ice cream at the market. Cagliari was wonderful and bright and as old as the rest of the Italian cities and even though Clara had complained about wanting to stay in bed, as much as he would have loved that, John had convinced her to join the tour, followed by a short trip on a sailing yacht. The next day on the island of Mallorca they had actually skipped the tour and chosen to spend the day at the beach instead. It had been a hot day and the waves of the ocean had been pleasantly cool. Clara hadn't wanted to leave the beach and John had felt the same, knowing it was their last stop before their three-day-journey back to England.  
Three days which he decided to use as best as he could because he had no idea how it would go on from there. All he knew was that they would have their marriage annulled and after that he might see her again. Or he might not.

 

Clara was writhing underneath him, whimpering, trying to speed up his thrusts which proved harder than originally thought on the surface of a trampoline. He felt her climax around him, her muscles tightening and the sensation pushed him over the edge and he came inside her with a low growl that John tried to muffle by burying his face in her shirt. Panting and laughing they came to lie flat on their backs next to each other, the trampoline below them still moving and Clara straightened her skirt while John pulled his trousers back up.  
“You have a thing for semi-public places, don't you?” he asked breathlessly, though he didn't quite feel like complaining about her enthusiasm. They outdoor playground was deserted, no one would ever catch them here except maybe another couple with the same notion.  
“Not really,” Clara chuckled, “But I've always wanted to try it on a trampoline.”  
John couldn't help but laugh when she leaned over and placed a sloppy kiss on his lips. He had done the one thing that should never have happened – he had fallen head over heels in love with her and even though in some moments John thought that Clara felt the same, he knew in his heart that things would change once they were back in England. The annulment would change it, whether they wanted it to or not. There would be nothing holding her once they were no longer bound by marriage. She would be the school teacher again and he would be the workaholic doctor unless they both decided to put in a effort and make it work.  
“Tomorrow-” he started but Clara placed her finger on his lips.  
“No,” she whispered, “Let's not talk about tomorrow. Let's not talk about England now. We have all night and I'm not planning on wasting it with sleep.”  
She kissed him again, deeply this time and John felt the protest leave him. They had cleared everything. On Monday noon during the lunch break she would stop by his practice and he would drive them to the office to make the annulment official. And then. . . Whatever came then.  
“Are you looking forward to having solid ground under you feet again?” he asked when their lips parted.  
“John,” she scolded him immediately, sounding a little angry, “This is our last night. Why do we need to talk about home now?”  
He let out a sigh, no idea why he had even started this when what he wanted most was for things to stay exactly like they were now. Clara at his side, in his arms. Would she still like him when she saw what he was like outside of this cruise? Or would she leave like several women before her had done?  
“Okay, since you want to talk I'll just come out and say it,” she cleared her throat, suddenly avoiding his gaze, “I'd hate for this to end with the cruise, I really would. I know we had a rocky start and this is about as unusual as it gets but I don't want you to go off and disappear after the annulment.”  
John's heart skipped a beat once he had grasped the meaning behind her words and he pulled her a little closer to him. “That's not what I want either.”  
Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. “Why have you never said that?”  
“You haven't said anything before now either,” he smiled and shrugged lightly, “Though I'm not sure whether you'd like me. The normal me. The outside of a holiday me. I can be quite difficult.”  
“Well, so can I.”  
John leaned forward and left a long, soft kiss on her forehead. “I mean it, Clara. I'm a workaholic. I don't want to be but I just get caught up in it and other women have left me for that before.”  
“Maybe I won't,” she argued, “We won't know unless we try, mh?”  
Clara nudged him gently and finally he felt like smiling again. John had no idea how Clara did it.  
“So what do you say? Wanna waste our last night on this ship with sleep or try out some other semi-public spots?” she giggled.  
“How about a bed instead?” John bent forward and kissed her once more.

* * *

Clara was woken up by the alarm and could immediately tell by the silence of the engines that they had anchored. She knew they were welcome to still remain on the cruise ship until the early afternoon but also that John's sister was going to pick him up before noon. The moment they had to say goodbye for now was upon them and even though it was only three days before they would see each other again on Monday Clara knew it would be different, no matter what they had agreed upon. Not because of what John had told her the night before, but because somehow the annulment felt like the end of something she had come to appreciate so, so much.  
Clara switched off the alarm and turned around to give John a nudge. He growled at her in response.  
“John, we need to get up. We've arrived in England,” she whispered softly but suddenly his arm was around her and he pulled her closer, pressing their lips together for a sloppy kiss.  
“Stay here,” he mumbled sleepily.  
Clara sighed. “I wish I could. But I haven't packed all of my clothes and _neither have you_.”  
Again John growled as Clara struggled free from his embrace and finally he opened his eyes to look at her for a long moment.  
“I'm going to miss you,” he said sincerely.  
Clara smiled at him. “You'll see me on Monday.”  
“Too long,” he replied, reached for her hand and pulled her down to kiss her again.

When finally Clara had managed to separate herself from John and put on her clothes to walk to her shared cabin with Amy, which, she now realized, they hadn't actually shared the past few days, she found that all of her clothes had been packed for her.  
“Amy, you didn't have to do that,” Clara said, her guilty conscience rising up inside of her.  
Her friend simply shrugged. “I was up early, I didn't mind.”  
“Well, in that case, thank you,” Clara said, still feeling bad about not having packed her own clothes when suddenly she became aware of Amy's looks. She had her hair in a messy bun and was wearing an old shirt with a pair of faded jeans.  
“Uhm, don't you wanna change into something. . . prettier?” Clara asked reluctantly.  
“Why?” Amy asked back, “Singles' cruise is over. I'm still single. We're about to go home.”  
Clara approached her friend and placed both her hands on Amy's shoulders. “Do me a favour. Put on something pretty and comb your hair.”  
“Why?” Amy's voice was wary.  
“Just trust me, okay?”  
Still eyeing her with suspicion Amy went back to her suitcase to select a different outfit. Oh, she would be surprised.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your comments!!!! Will they go through with the annulment? Or not?

“I'm sorry I kinda left you on your own during this trip,” Clara said earnestly as they both carried their luggage outside. She had probably behaved like a very bad friend, especially during the last couple of days that she had spent almost exclusively with John.  
“Hey don't worry about it. I got to chill. You found a man,” Amy smiled at her, “That was sort of the point of this cruise. I'm happy for-”  
Amy stopped abruptly, making Clara turn around and look ahead and that was where she spotted him. Rory was standing a few metres ahead, holding a large bouquet of roses and smiling awkwardly.  
“What the hell is _he_ doing here?” Amy asked, though whether she was happy or mad wasn't quite so obvious from her voice.  
When her friend turned to look at Clara she only smiled sheepishly. “Uhm, well, I'm sorry for that, too. I called him.”  
“You _what_?!”  
Clara rolled her eyes in impatience. “He loves you. You love him. You've been miserable without him the whole time and now go over there and take him back!” Clara almost yelled at her friend and for a moment Amy looked almost shocked. But then, after considering her words, her features began to soften and Clara could even spot a hint of a smile as Amy turned around and headed in Rory's direction.  
Clara flinched when Amy greeted her husband with a soft slap across the head but only a few seconds later they had their arms flung around each other in a tight embrace. Clara smiled happily, knowing that they could probably manage the rest on their own.  
“That's the husband, I assume?”  
Clara turned around to see that John had appeared next to her, smiling and nodding towards the now kissing couple.  
“Yeah,” she replied, grinning, “I think they'll be fine. You should probably get part of the credit, too. It was your phone and you suggested I do it.”  
John placed his arm around her waist, pulling her a little closer while they still watched Amy and Rory reunite. Clara eventually sighed and looked up at John.  
“I'm going to miss you, too, you know?” she said after a moment and she could tell that John was about to bend down and kiss her when suddenly a shrill voice made him turn around.

“Well, look at that!” a woman about John's age said in a Scottish accent and smiled in their direction. She had a mass of dark curls on top of her head and was wearing a purple pencil skirt and blazer. Clara didn't even have to ask to know that this was John's sister Missy.  
“I thought you'd find yourself a girlfriend, not adopt a child,” the woman sniggered as she stepped closer and came to a halt right in front of them, “Just kidding by the way. I'm Missy.”  
“Missy, this is Clara,” John paused for a second and when she looked up Clara thought she saw a hint of pride on his face, “My wife.”  
His sister started to laugh. “Yeah, of course, your wife,” she chuckled but when neither John nor Clara showed any signs of wanting to correct what he had just said it seemed to be dawning on her. “You got _married_?”  
“Yeah,” Clara confirmed with a shrug.  
“How did you two even meet? Aren't the activities usually. . . sorted by age?”  
“Actually, we didn't take part in any of the speed dating or whatever dating activities,” John explained while keeping a firm grip on Clara's hips, “We met the very first evening when Clara-”  
“ _Don't you dare!_ ” she interrupted him as soon as she knew where his explanation was headed. The way they had met was embarrassing enough already, there really was no need to let everyone know just how exactly it had happened.  
John chuckled. “You expect me to lie to my sister? Come on, just tell her that you-”  
“That I couldn't resist him from the beginning,” Clara interrupted him again, smiling. She nudged him in the back so Missy couldn't see it. “I saw him and had to compliment his hair, yeah. That's how we met.”  
His sister eyed them both suspiciously for a moment but eventually she seemed to accept her lie. “Alright then. I guess I'll leave you two newlyweds to say goodbye. Unless you're coming with us, Clara?”  
“Oh, that's not necessary. My friends will take me home, they live right around the corner but thanks for the offer.”  
Missy nodded at them before she turned away to make her way back to the car. Clara looked up at John and realized that he was still very much amused about her fib.  
“You don't happen to have a good excuse for why we're getting an annulment, too?” he asked with his eyebrows raised.  
“Unfortunately, no,” she sighed and looked at him. She could ask him now. She could ask him to forget about the annulment. But she didn't.  
Instead Clara flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “I'll see you on Monday,” she whispered.  
“Yes,” he replied, “Monday.”  
They locked their lips together in another long kiss until Clara heard Amy call out her name and they had to pull away from each other. There was so much that Clara wanted to tell him, so much on her mind about how badly she would miss him but since John didn't say a thing, neither did she. 

 

When Clara arrived at home her flat suddenly felt a lot more empty than it usually did. She knew in her heart that it looked exactly the same, that nothing had changed – except for herself. Amy had her Rory back now, and what did Clara have? A dead ficus plant and lots of pictures of Danny and herself.  
After kicking off her shoes and leaving her jacket on the coat rack Clara went through her apartment, collecting every single picture of Danny that she could find until there was none left. Sitting down on her carpet she drew a box out of from the lowest shelf that contained many photographs of her as a child, many more of her mother and the rest of her family and Clara added the pictures of Danny to the rest of them before she placed the box neatly back where she had taken it from.  
“Goodbye Danny,” she whispered and suddenly it felt as if a weight had lifted off her shoulders. It had been nine months. She was truly ready for something new now. She was ready for a relationship with John.


	21. Chapter 21

The waiting area looked clean and modern and on her way inside Clara bumped into a young woman obviously on her way out.  
“Oh, sorry,” Clara apologized immediately.  
“It's okay,” the woman smiled at her, “You must be Clara?”  
For a moment she was more than a little taken aback until it dawned on her that John might have told his colleagues about her. And then she remembered that he had no colleagues, only a replacement named Martha Jones and it made little sense for his replacement to still be here.  
“I'm Martha,” the woman explained, still smiling, “And thanks to you Dr Smith just extended my contract.”  
It seemed her confusion would only grow. “Thanks to _me_?”  
“I have a lunch date to catch now, but I guess I'll see you around?” Martha said as she took a couple of steps back until she had reached the stairs.  
“Yeah,” Clara breathed in reply, still entirely baffled by what Martha had told her and finally stepped inside the practice.

John was already waiting for her by the counter and he smiled when he saw her.  
“Hello Clara,” he greeted her happily and spread his arms. Clara walked up to him, greeting him with a short peck on the lips.  
“Is something wrong?” John asked her, “You seem a bit. . .distant?”  
“Not distant,” Clara replied, still frowning, “Confused. I ran into Martha Jones and she said you extended her contract? Because of me?”  
John still smiled at her and reached out to take her hand in his own. “Well, mostly because of you. Martha did a great job here in my absence and my sister was right about one thing: I'm working too much. So I asked Martha if she would be willing to stay indefinitely so I would have a little more time to spare. For you.”  
Clara stared at him and for a moment she didn't know what to say. The fact that he had hired someone just so he could spend more time with her was something Clara had never expected. So instead of saying anything she went up on her toes and kissed him again.  
“Wanna see my practice?” he asked her excitedly after they had parted lips and before Clara could even reply he had taken her hand again and started leading her around.

John showed her the waiting area they were standing in, followed by the three examination rooms, the staff kitchen, the small office and finally his own. His office was the only room that didn't look modern and sterile. Instead it was fitted with a dark wooden floor, wooden bookshelves and a lot of plants that framed his large desk.  
“Nice,” she commented with a smile before she turned around, leaning against his desk, “I'm relieved to see that you've got style.”  
John smiled at her but Clara didn't miss the way his eyes wandered down on her body and back up and suddenly her own thoughts started to go there, too.  
She only winked at him. “What are you waiting for?”  
He didn't even hesitate. In one swift movement John swept the paperwork off his desk and lifted Clara up to lie on top of it. His mouth met her own within seconds, kissing her eagerly and Clara could feel a tingling sensation rising up between her legs. She wanted him, she always wanted him and John was doing a very good job at putting her in the exactly right mood. She parted her legs, wrapping them around his arse to pull him closer, the front of his trousers already pressing deliciously against her own knickers. If only it wasn't for those clothes.  
She gasped when his lips wandered along her neck, the hint of a beard he had grown over the weekend scratching her sensitive skin. For a brief moment she wondered what it would feel like on the insides of her thighs and the thought alone caused her to moan out loud. The sound made John rub his body against hers more eagerly and she could already feel the rising heat of his erection so close to her own sex.  
He groaned on top of her. “We shouldn't,” he mumbled as he continued to cover her neck in kisses, “We'll miss the appointment.”  
Somehow Clara got the impression he had no intention to stop at all.  
“Make it quick,” she keened and pulled him closer against her with her arms and legs.  
John's hand left her and instantly went to his own belt, unbuckling it before he freed his erection. The excitement shot through her body and straight to the core of her arousal when Clara saw him and she leaned forward to wrap her hands around him. John responded like he always did, closing his eyes and giving himself to her touch so completely that she shuddered upon hearing him moan. Clara stroked him gently, wiping her thumb over his tip just like he loved it and the sounds he made, the way he rocked into her palm made her juices pool between her legs.  
Suddenly he was on top of her again, pinning her down on the table right before he ripped down her knickers and plunged inside of her, making her gasp at the sudden impact. His thrusts had her moaning and Clara clawed onto his back, pulling him down until he kissed her roughly and she was running out of breath.  
“Do your patients know what you're doing on your desk?” she giggled breathlessly until a particularly deep thrust made her gasp when he hit her sweet spot.  
John groaned as he pulled out only to bury himself in her once more. “Better not tell them that,” he panted and his hands wandered to her hips, keeping her steady as he rocked inside of her.  
Clara leaned back, moaning again and let him take her the way he wanted. The feeling of him inside of her was almost overwhelming and somehow he knew just exactly what to do and how fast to go and how to bring her straight to the point of no return.  
She could tell by his pace and by his breathing that he was close and when his thrusts continued to hit faster and harder Clara couldn't help but cry out when he made her come and yet he kept going, riding out that last wave of her orgasm until he spilled himself inside of her. John threw his head back, a groan coming from his throat as his movements stilled and for a moment Clara heard nothing but their breathing and the blood rushing through her ears.  
Once he had removed himself from her, Clara sat up on the table, looking at him as he buttoned himself back up. It was now or never. She had to ask.  
“What if we don't do it?” Clara asked, looking straight at him.  
John raised his head at her, seeming a little baffled. “Don't do what?”  
“The annulment. What if we don't go through with it?” She swallowed hard as she waited for his answer and his feature suddenly turned a lot graver than they had been before.  
John inhaled sharply. “We have to, Clara.”  
Clara cleared her throat and stared down at her feet. It had been a silly suggestion and she should never have made it, she realized that now. He didn't want to be married to her. He had never wanted that.  
“Getting married on a cruise ship while being drunk out of our minds isn't how you should begin a life long commitment,” John explained, “I don't want it to be like that. A wedding should be done properly with your family and friends present, with a white dress and a cake. You need music and weddings rings and all of that. Not to mention a proper wedding night and honeymoon. That's how we should do it.”  
It was the last sentence that made Clara look back at him and it brought a frown to her face. “Hang on, did you just-”  
“Not right now. Not in the next few days or weeks or even months. I think we should actually get to know each other unless,” his voice started to falter, “Unless you don't want that?”  
Clara started to laugh. “You would actually marry me?”  
John gave her a shrug. “If _you_ want to marry _me_. But I insist on a proper-”  
Before he had the chance to say or do anything else Clara jumped off the table and right into his arms, pressing her lips against his in a long kiss.

* * *

The employee at the divorce court eyed them suspiciously after John had handed him their marriage certificate and explained that they would like to apply for an annulment. His eyes kept wandering back and forth between the two of them and the piece of paper.  
“Excuse me, there is something that I need to check,” the employee excused himself and left the office through a side entrance. Clara threw him a questioning look.  
“Don't look at me, I have no idea what that means,” he said and reached for Clara's hand, “Don't worry. It'll be fine.”  
And it would be, John was sure of that. Clara wanted to be with him, she would even marry him again and that was all that mattered, all that he needed to know. This time he wouldn't mess it up because he worked too much. For her he would make an honest effort.

A few minutes later the employee came back and he wore a strange smile on his face as he settled at the opposite end of the desk.  
“Well, I have good news for you. You don't even need to get an annulment because this certificate isn't valid at all,” he explained.  
“ _What?_ ” they both asked in unison.  
Again the man smiled. “The captain who. . . _married_ you, he has no licence at all to bind two people in marriage. This may look like a proper certificate, but my guess is that it was printed out to just look like one. It's not real. To confirm it I called the captain in question and he told me he just played along to get you two out of his office,” there was a short snigger in the man's voice and John could imagine all too well how he would laugh about the story of the two drunk idiots who had fallen for a fake marriage certificate once they had left his office.  
“Shall I throw this out?” the employee asked, holding up the certificate.  
“No!” Clara immediately blurted out and leaned forward to take it from him, “We'll keep that as a souvenir.”  
“Does that mean we can go now?” John asked him, still a little baffled about the latest news. If they had never been married that meant they could begin their relationship with a clean slate. He had worried about nothing. And when they got married for real it would be so much better than this.

Once they had stepped back outside Clara was still eyeing the fake certificate and now she started laughing as well. “I bet they had a good laugh about us on the ship after this,” she giggled, “Tell you what. When we get married for real we should definitely send the captain a picture.”  
John glanced down at her. “So we're really gonna do it? At some point?” he asked hopefully.  
Clara smiled. “Yeah, I think so. There's no getting rid of me now and if you try I'll just puke on your shoes.”  
He couldn't help but chuckle. “Now it was _you_ who brought that up again,” he paused, “Hey, how about I'll leave the practice to Martha after lunch and we see what we can do with the rest of the day?”  
“Sounds perfect,” Clara agreed and John held out his arm for her to take before they walked back to his car. 

 

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has read this story and left a comment! You have no idea how much every single one means to me and how happy it makes me to see that you all love and appreciate the writing I deliver.  
> Speaking of which - I have good and bad news about this. The good news is that I got accepted for a training and media designer and will start the new job in August. And it's full time. This is where the bad news comes in. With work and school I will not have time to write and update like I have the past few months and I'm sure you will all understand that. BUT (and this part is good news again) I won't stop writing altogether. I have already started writing the next fic - a mafia AU - called "Heart of Steel" and I will start posting once I've got a bit of a headstart. It might not get daily updates, but regular ones and I hope you will enjoy this fic to come because I think it's going to be great :D


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